Commissioner Michael Roman () is a fictional police detective in a series of five

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n thriller films.

Ilarion Ciobanu Ilarion Ciobanu (; 28 October 1931 – 7 September 2008) was a Romanian actor. He has been described as "a legend" in the press and the last true Romanian comic. Biography Ciobanu was born in Ciucur, Tighina County, Kingdom of Romania (now Mold ...

played Commissioner Roman in all five films, and

Sergiu Nicolaescu Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu (; 13 April 1930 – 3 January 2013) was a Romanian people, Romanian film director, actor and politician. He was best known for his historical films, such as ''Michael the Brave (film), Mihai Viteazul'' (1970, released in ...

directed the first two. The films were: *'' With Clean Hands'' (), 1972 *''

The Last Bullet ''The Last Bullet'' is a 1995 Australian film about a Japanese soldier and Australian soldier who fight in World War Two.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p99 The film is set in Borneo, towards ...

'' (), 1973 *''Conspiracy'' (), 1973 *''Long Way to Tipperary'' (), 1973 *''Trap'' (), 1974 The first film of the series, ''With Clean Hands'' takes place in 1945-1946 and introduces Mihai Roman as a rookie detective. Roman is a dedicated communist and former member of the communist underground, and his joining the force is part of the communist infiltration of the government apparatus (which is presented positively). The earnest, by-the-book Roman teams with the more unorthodox (and apolitical) Tudor Miclovan (played by Sergiu Nicolaescu himself) to clean up organized crime in post-war

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. Miclovan is killed at the end ("It's nothing... I'm finished, but Romania continues..."). In the next film in the series, ''The Last Bullet'', Roman hunts downs Miclovan's killer, a local gangster and smuggler named Semaca. Roman carries Miclovan's last cartridge in his pocket, hence the movie's title. Roman also catches a German spy who is still hiding in Romania. Audience demand for a revival of Miclovan was refused by screenwriter Titus Popovici, which led to strained relations between Popovici and director Nicolaescu. The next three films in the series were directed by Manole Marcus. In ''Conspiracy'', Roman thwarts election fraud. ''Long Way to Tipperary'' is based on the historical

Tămădău Affair The Tămădău affair (, ''Înscenarea de la Tămădău'' – "the Tămădău frameup" – or ''Fuga de la Tămădău'' – "the Tămădău flight") was an incident that took place in Romania in July 1947. It was the source of a political scandal ...

; Roman tracks traitors plotting to flee the country to set up a government in exile, and arrests them at the airport. In ''Trap'', the final film of the series, Roman deals with remnants of the

Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...

entrenched in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

. In this film, Roman is seriously wounded but does not die. The film shows details of

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

monastic life, as the gang poses as monks. This film was shown in the Soviet Union.

References

External links

* * * * * Romanian thriller films Films directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu Film characters introduced in 1972 Fictional Romanian police detectives {{film-char-stub