1999. Kosovo War. In a small Romanian village, the chief of the railway station, who also happens to be a local gangster, stops a NATO train transporting military equipment. Their arrival in this small village dramatically changes its landscape.
"Occident" is a bitter comedy about the people who want to emigrate from Romania, and about those who stay behind. The movie has a rich, interesting structure: there are three different stories - a weeklong in the film - that cross, interconnect and happen in the same period. The characters influence each others lives, sometimes even without knowing. Main characters from one story become secondary characters in another story. At the same time, scenes from the first part of the movie bring unexpected facts when seen the second or the third time. The stories do not have just one ending: the first story ends in each of the third parts in a different point, suggesting radically different solutions for the characters. The way in which the director fits time and links events together often produces thematically unexpected results.
The father, fired two years before retirement, wants to get rehired, requiring the support of his son. The action takes place in a restaurant in Bucharest.
Stefan is a young manager in a big advertising agency, happily married and having a young daughter. He suddenly falls in love with a woman he sees on the street, at a light stop. His life changes completely as he is desperately trying to find the woman of his dreams. —Cristina Oprescu
