Chuck Norris battled Communists in his none-too-sophisticated action films of the 1980s, but documentarian Ilinca Calugareanu makes the argument that black market VHS tapes of Hollywood films helped lead to the eventual overthrow of the Romanian Ceausescu regime. She makes a compelling case and the behind-the-scenes look at how these tapes were made and distributed is interesting … for a while. Unfortunately Chuck Norris vs Communism says everything it needs to say in its first 15 minutes, and then just keeps rewinding the tape.  Western films were heavily edited if not outright banned in Iron Curtain Romania. But the advent of VHS players offered a new avenue of entertainment beside the one state-run television channel. Ironically enough, it was from within the censorship board itself that the small, illegal and highly profitable industry of smuggled cinema began. A connected man named Zamfir hired a state translator named Irina to come in and dub her voice on every tape he could bring into the country. Those who were able to afford VCRs would host surreptitious film parties in which multiple families would cram into small apartments and watch movies until the sun came up. A generation of Romanians got their only glimpse of American life through worn copies of copies with the mysterious, unseen Irina acting out all the parts. Zamfir became one of the richest men in the country, and protected by the secret police due to their own interest in screening his latest releases.  Calugareanu’s film mixes talking head interviews from people reminiscing (Irina would never swear; f-bombs were replaced with “Get lost!”) with some crafty reenactments. These well-directed scenes suggest that there is a great narrative film yet to be made about life in Romania during the 80s, one that perhaps touches on families in apartment blocks that held illegal screenings, either for money or to rouse the populace toward reform. While I’m sure the dissemination of black market tapes truly did have huge social repercussions, there’s a surprising “so what?” effect after the 15th recollection of what it was like to watch Rambo. For an action star like Chuck Norris, I suspect he may have a thing or two to say about having his name attached to a film that’s this dull.
The documentary about how the action star may or may not have helped overthrow Ceausescu and bring democracy to Romania is fascinating when it makes its case first time round; less so after the eighth outing