Radu Jude’s incendiary assault on nationalist myth-making and historical hypocrisy represents a high point in one of Romanian cinema’s most compelling careers. This meta-fictional film follows theatre director Mariana (Ioana Iacob) as she attempts to stage a public reenactment of the 1941 Odesa Massacre, which saw Romanian troops allied with the Nazis murder tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews after capturing the city from Soviet forces; the film’s title is pulled from a speech by Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu preceding the slaughter. As she battles municipal oversight, recalcitrant actors, and personal crises, Mariana starts to realise that some home truths are far from welcome. Jude’s unapologetically intellectual film draws unnerving links between past and present, building to an unforgettable and chilling final spectacle.