Doctor Schileru's life is an endless source of inspiration.
Two literary works have been written about him:
the short story ''Thirty-eight point two'' and ''The Balance'', a novel,
as well as two feature films, ''Red Apples'' and ''The Oak''.
For now !
THIRTY EIGHT POINT TWO
I came into this world in Râmnicu Vâlcea, or, should I say,
my mother brought me into this world.
Or, should I say, the doctor brought me into this world,
because he brought me out with a forceps,
I still have marks, on my head. You know ?
That was on the boulevard, over the way from the old post office,
in a building that's not there anymore.
There was a photographer in the building too, you know ?
From there we moved to Captain Negoescu Street,
to Aunty Sita Capeleanu's house.
She was kin to my grandma.
- Red apples - ''Narcisa !''
''- Morning ! - Morning !''
''It is a nice day today. But the rains are coming.''
''Hear about rain, I think of the hangman.''
''Have you seen my Narcisa, my white cat ?''
''No, Mrs. Ionescu. I did not see any cat.''
That's kind of how it was.
I don't remember the moment I was born,
but I remember after that.
Cause I was in that building for a long time. Until the communists came.
They tore it all up and built the barracks you see now.
''THE OAK''
Screenplay by LUCIAN PINTILIE After ''The Balance'' novel by ION BĂIEŞU
I had a happy childhood. I was an only child.
My father was a professor of pedagogy and philosophy
and my mother was very talented at painting and other things like that.
All the attention was directed towards me.
I was barely seven and I was straddling the fence, the gate of the hospital building.
All of a sudden an oxcart came up. It stopped in front of the hospital.
The man picked up the woman in his arms.
They looked like Michaelangelo's Pieta, from the Vatican, Saint Peter's you know ?
The guard wouldn't let them in.
I guess there was some problem, because the guard wouldn't let them in.
I guess it was something about money, from what I could see.
It was then I made up my mind to become a doctor.
Doctor Schileru
I was in my first or second year of high school, during the war.
A film by DIANA DELEANU
There wasn't just that hospital here.
All the schools had been turned into hospitals for the wounded.
In the beginning I was friends with Vasilică.
A child, he went to the front when he was 18
and came back without his arms and legs.
Such was the great enthusiasm for Romania to be,
as the poet Eminescu said: ''from Nistru to Tisa''.
That poor Romanians went to war to build their old country again.
The result ? Well, you know it. Communism. The exact opposite.
It was then I started going to the hospital,
first to see my friend Vasilică and then to lend a hand.
So I became ''the hospital kid''.
Here, in Râmnicu Vâlcea, lived Gheorghe Lungu,
a former heavyweight professional boxing champion.
He was a very decent man.
He set up fights with different boxers
and we kids opened for them.
I was 13 years old when I started.
Soon after that I became a professional.
I was very passionate when boxing. I loved boxing very much.
At that time I didn't really know how to box, but I was full of energy.
I saw stars, but it didn't matter.
Everybody told me I would have an incredible career,
but it was cut off in '48 the COMMUNISTS,
here's when I quit professional boxing.
I wanted nothing to do with communist propaganda.
I told them all to go to hell.
- The Oak - ''- Are you nervous ? - Yes.''
''Do you know we've never kissed even though we've been living together for...''
''Seven days of which five I spent in jail. So what are you saying ?''
''Nothing. It was just an observation.''
''What do you wanna do, hun ? Get hitched ?''
Bad timing. You never know when love will come around.
Love is the greatest thing in life.
Like Jesus says, you don't have love, you don't have nothing.
Nothing is like loving and being loved.
Her parents wouldn't let her marry me, because I was just a kid.
I was just finishing high school, we were both 18,
you know, what could we do ? Run away ?
It was on the 3rd of July, in Târgu Jiu, the town hall clock rang midnight,
she shows up with two suitcases, she's shivering all over,
at my grandparent's house on the boulevard by the train station.
We hopped a train to Vâlcea. Nobody knew anything.
When we got there, my mother was so excited
she cooked the beans with lamp oil instead of cooking oil.
Of course she was. I was her son.
Then we went to the University, we passed the tests, both of us.
We had our own room.
I don't want to tell you everything we endured, the cold, the hunger. Awful !
In the end, our fellow students helped us.
They got us a room with access to a kitchen.
Good enough ! In Vasile Alecsandri Street in Cluj.
We had a big crate, we kept our kids in it, they were small enough.
One came after the other.
Later I transplanted them to my mother's house, in Vâlcea.
- Red apples - ''- Which one you want ? - Doesn't matter, any of them will do.''
''Give me the red one.''
When I graduated, I had four children.
They assigned us jobs, you know, like the communists did.
Nobody asked anybody what they wanted.
It was different with me. Me, I told them I wanted to go home,
because I had four children.
My wife, they sent her here, a doctor in the lab.
What makes life worthwhile ? The woman.
The woman is the most beautiful monument of nature.
I'm old. So ? Don't I have eyes ? Am I blind ?
Whatever is beautiful, you know God loves it.
In the end, I got a job at the Syndicate Central Council in Călimăneşti.
But they wanted a clerk doctor, not a surgeon.
The only thing I dreamed of being was a surgeon, ever since I was a child.
- Red apples - ''I pray you, do not move do not breathe.''
I didn't give up.
I went to see Constantin Pârvulescu. He was from Olăneşti.
He worked at the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party.
I told him my story. I told him the short version of it.
- Red apples - ''Right. Fine.''
He appointed me radiologist here.
- Red apples - ''OK. Dismissed...''
I did seven months in radiology, something like that.
I got out quickly.
I rode my bicycle to Craiova. To the hospital there.
I remember what a smile Doctor Ciril Popovici had.
God rest his soul, him and Doctor Toniţa's.
He said to me: ''Here you go. You like it ?''
''Sure, I like it.'' I said.
Thirty beds for me to take care of.
There was one case I'll never forget. I was in Craiova during a night shift.
A man came in with a huge belly.
A very tall thin man, with a distended belly.
I had to operate on him, because I couldn't even get a tube down his throat.
His vital signs were already poor. While I was scrubbing up,
the nurse who was preparing him for surgery told me he had died.
No way ! I asked for a pair of surgical gloves.
I wanted to know why he had died. I cut him open, no anaesthesia.
His belly was full of bean seeds, and had exploded.
Then he started to breathe.
Believe it or not, this is the truth.
His name was Pârvu. I'll never forget his name.
He came to his senses and after ten days he underwent a stomach resection.
I go to Craiova from time to time. Once a guy stopped me and greeted me.
''You don't remember me'' he said. ''No, I don't'' I said.
''I am Pârvu.'' He had two small children.
These are the stories that give me satisfaction in my work.
And I did something everyone knows I did in Craiova.
I took my bicycle and went to Bucharest to take an examination.
Surprise !
The posts for urology were all gone,
and the examination was now going to be for general surgery.
I tried to talk with somebody. But with who ? They were idiots.
I was sure they were all members of the Communist Party.
They didn't understand anything I told them.
I got angry. I got on my bicycle and went to the Ministry of Health.
Who had time to talk to a nobody like me ? Not a soul.
I was desperate and wanted satisfaction.
I picked up the phone... I don't remember the cost of a phone call.
I phoned the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
I had the good luck to be heard by a sympathetic man. I told my story.
I told him I had used money I needed to buy food for my five children.
I had come to Bucharest on my bicycle to take an examination
as advertised in the newspaper.
Only to be told the examination was no longer taking place.
He asked me where I was. I told him I was in Bucharest.
''Are you far away from the Central Committee ?'' he asked.
''No, I'll be there after a while. I'm on my bicycle.''
He was surprised that I came such a long way by bicycle.
I left my bicycle in front of the Central Committee, at the entrance.
Believe it or not, he came to the gate to escort me inside.
I had the experience of encountering Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej face to face.
Later I saw him dead.
I am usually fearless,
but at that moment, as a man of 29, I felt a lump in my throat,
''What happened ?'' he asked me. And I began to tell him my story.
I came to take an examination, but the examination had ended.
He had a few buttons on his desk.
He pushed one of them and the deputy minister, Berlogea, came in.
''Do you have the courage to take the examination now ?'' he asked me.
''Of course.'' I answered.
''- Are you sure ? - I'm positive.''
I got his approval and went to take the examination.
I passed the examination and I left, satisfied with myself.
I went to Fundeni Hospital on my bicycle
where I worked for one year.
I had decided to go back to Râmnicu Vâlcea
where I would become the chief doctor of Emergency.
I wanted satisfaction from them, not to beg from them.
I had the degree in urology now so I came back to Râmnicu Vâlcea.
- Red apples - ''I came here as an urologist. I was sent here to prepare''
''the future urology section and I'll keep on working here no matter''
''what you believe, think or wish.''
''I don't work for money or for success. I work because I like my job.''
Doctor Vlădescu, my former teacher, was suddenly no longer supportive.
- Red apples - ''I'll continue to handle all the cases that fall within my capability.''
They had to give me some beds, two wards on the right side of the hospital.
- Red apples - ''Two. I got those two wards legally and I won't give them to anyone.''
''Not even if you bring in the police.''
Unfortunately, in Romania, instead of helping people to do something
you reject them because, for one reason or another,
I mean no offence to those in question,
you will step on the toes of those who demand bribes.
- Red apples - ''I know very well that you accept money and gifts from patients,''
''but I've never accepted anything from anyone.''
''Are you convinced I accept money from patients ?''
''Yes, I am. You have a car, a mansion. Where from ?''
''From your salary ?''
''Comrade Dr. Mitică Irod, what would you say if I slapyour face for such an insult ?''
''Comrade Hospital Director, that wouldn't be wise, I told you I used to box.''
I operated, but let's not talk about numbers and quantity.
I never took a bribe.
I've never accepted anything from someone's pocket.
- Red apples - ''This discussion shows who you really are and you have one chance left.''
In 1962...
- Red apples - ''Get a transfer and leave.''
A child from the countryside with a kidney stone... came to me for an operation.
- Red apples - ''Why should I leave ? Why ?''
I operated on him.
During the surgery I noticed he also had a tumor.
I published this case in Acta Urologica Belgica.
- Red apples - ''Why ?''
''Because you're ugly, miserable and without any private life''
''and you try to create for yourself a scientist's aura''
''as if you are being sacrificed on the altar of science.''
I took the tumor and the kidney stone out and also made a kind of a support.
- Red apples - ''Unlike you I'm really qualified because I know how to do my job.''
''I just want to do my job. That's all I want !''
Today the child I operated on is a doctor, and his child is a doctor.
- Red apples - ''You have only one chance. The transfer.''
These are my rewards in my profession as a doctor.
- Red apples - ''If you don't transfer out by noon, we're going to liquidate you !''
THIRTY EIGHT POINT TWO For doctor Grigore Schileru
The day I left, in 1963, at the end of the year,
I rode my bicycle, because from here I left for Ploieşti.
Veni, vidi, vici. I won but I wasn't proud for I had no worthy adversary.
I told them goodbye, got on my bicycle and left for Ploieşti.
At Petrolul Hospital one of the nurses had severe kidney problems.
She had to have her kidney removed. I examined her and then operated on her.
She had a massive hydronephrosis. It was a pyeloplasty.
It wasn't too severe, but at that time and place
it seemed an impossible operation. And yet I did it.
She recovered and was fine.
Today, after forty years, she came with her husband for his checkup.
Out of curiosity, I wanted her to have an echography, to see her kidney.
It was absolutely normal.
- Red apples - ''- Comrade doctor ! - What happened ?''
''This woman gave birth to twin girls''
''and her husband beat her because she didn't make boys.''
''You can't imagine her agony. Contractions for 24 hours.''
''She's so thin but he still beat her, the bastard !''
Out of 39 boxing fights I've never lost one.
- Red apples - ''Let her rest for a while. Try to calm down...''
''Comrade doctor ! Comrade doctor ! Shall I call the police ?''
Just look the other way. I'm not keen on such things.
- Red apples - ''Don't worry about it. I made sure that I got one in first.''
I couldn't stop there, and I became a boxing coach.
I've trained 400 boys in my life. They are all boxers at the school.
My greatest achievement was the boxing school in Ploieşti
which I started, in 1963.
I took advantage of my profession
and of the big shots from the petrol industry, who I had eating out of my hands.
I used to have a saying: ''He who doesn't piss dies.''
The whole world helped me.
All the coaches from Ploieşti were my students or my students' students.
Once in awhile I would give somebody or other a punch in his liver
to show him I meant business.
- The Oak - ''- You, comrade doctor... - I'm listening.''
''- Your act is unspeakable. - Yes...''
''You kicked a man and disfigured him. You have no right to be a doctor.''
''- You are at best a hooligan. - A moment please.''
I had to deal with so many crooks, that instead of wasting time with arguments
I would tell them that I didn't know how to argue.
You want to fight ? Let's go.
- The Oak - ''If you say I'm a hooligan, at least don't say it for nothing.''
''You've done yourself in !''
I'm nobody special, just a man who loves freedom.
That's how I was brought up.
Now I'm an old man and I haven't got the strength for politics.
But what I wouldn't do to them all if I were younger.
Lord, I'd finish them all.
- The Oak - ''Comrade prosecutor wants to talk to you.''
''He has to wait in the hallway.''
If these people had the dignity they used to have,
the dignity that was destroyed by the communists,
they would take to the streets...
- The Oak - ''- Comrade doctor, you... - He's waiting in the hallway !''
What hurts me most is that the people hung their heads in submission
like during the days Russian tanks were here
and the Securitate, secret police, also a Russian organ, did what it wanted.
I can tell you, because I was arrested several times.
- The Oak - ''Comrade colonel wishes to speak to you.''
''And I wish for him to kiss my ass.''
I was being interrogated day and night by imbeciles,
who asked me stupid questions. Of course I led them by the nose.
- The Oak - ''Doctor, what would have happened to you for those words''
''if you were not a doctor...''
''What would have happened to me...''
''I would have kicked your butt.''
I remember the Securitate Commander came around, from Piteşti,
where they were killing the Romanian young people.
I led him by the nose too.
- The Oak - ''Doctor, has someone ever insulted your mother ?''
''My mother ? When I was small. Now as an adult, I don't recall.''
''You should know someone insulted my mother this morning at 6:45.''
''- Why ? - Because of you.''
''- Who swore at you ? - Comrade Prime Secretary.''
''Don't make a big deal out of that.''
''Why do you say he swore at you because of me ?''
''I'll tell you why. You operated on a woman last night, correct ?''
''- Right. - What was her condition ?''
''Perforated ulcer.''
''- Do you know who that woman was ? - No, I don't.''
''- She was the Prime Secretary's wife. - So what ?''
''That's the problem.''
''The Prime Secretary asked for the best surgeon in town.''
''He was told that you are the best.''
That was the situation.
- The Oak - ''Go on, I'm listening.''
''After you performed the operation he wanted to thank you.''
''- So... - Indeed.''
''And it was then he found out that you were under arrest''
''and that they let you out to operate.''
''And ?''
''And he called for me and for the general prosecutor.''
''What problem could you have with a doctor of his reputation.''
''You should thank him and kiss his feet''
''for he could have been working in Bucharest but instead he remained here.''
''And for what ? Arrest ? Because he kicked ass on some crooked, drunk prosecutor''
''we should've gotten rid of a long time ago ?''
''Is this the kind of man you send to prison ?''
I was never impressed by these big shots or these animals that mock people.
Not at all.
- The Oak - ''And then ?''
''Then the general prosecutor appealed.''
''Two hours ago your case went to trial again''
''while you were resting, and you were acquitted.''
''And you say there's no democracy in our country.''
They are nobodies ! Bastards !
- The Oak - ''They are Securitate officers, as you all know,''
''but you act like you don't know.''
''They were here doing their job and we know what their mission was,''
''but we have no intention to give you any information.''
''Isn't that true ?''
Beasts !
There's nothing for me to say, because piles of paper were written about it,
and the blood of the unfortunate ran in rivers.
The Romanian intellectuals were sacrificed. Quickly.
There was no other solution. Depersonalization.
To say ''Bravo !'' to those complete imbeciles.
- The Oak - ''Do you see the luggage rack on top of the car in the front yard ?''
''It's there for them to take stuff home grapes, potatoes, wine,''
''whatever is available, if it comes available.''
''This is the present life of the city folk of Romania,''
''that of the most privileged one: the Securitate official.''
I have no words to describe the misfortune that befell this people.
Because these worthless creatures are around even today.
Look how hard it is for Romania to enter the European community.
Corruption, misfortune, Mafiosi still in important positions.
- The Oak - ''You're smarter than the devil, doctor.''
That's how it goes in communism.
If you are a Securitate official, you can do everything you want.
If you are an ordinary citizen, to hell with you.
Only God could deliver you from their hands.
- The Oak - ''You are listening to Radio Free Europe.''
''We have such a beautiful country.''
In 1968, on August 20th, 21st and 22nd,
the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia took place.
I realized that a future for my children was no longer possible.
I decided to leave the country.
I left with my two children, who were diving champions
for Turkey,
where they were training for the 1969 Balkan Championship.
They finally let me go, but only with the two children.
They tried to stop me from leaving the boat,
We were ready to jump overboard. But I tricked them.
This is how we managed to get to America.
I began to pressure the authorities to let the rest of my family come to me.
My chance came when Ceauşescu went to America.
President Nixon had a letter from my children on his desk.
And he asked Ceauşescu to let my family be reunited.
After two years and 3 weeks they finally came to America.
First, I went to Canada to my uncle, who was a doctor.
Poor man, he had to buy a house, because of all the children.
I begin to study medicine day and night
and in the evenings I went to box at the YMCA.
I have video recordings to prove it.
Many times I walked on the ice up to the river Olt and tried to swim there.
When spring came and the ice began to melt, I walked among the ice floes.
A real pleasure.
People think I'm joking, but I'm not. It was a real pleasure.
I was never cold. I don't know what kind of creature I am.
I still swim at low temperatures.
I remember in Canada, Calgary, Alberta, at minus 40 degrees Celsius
when you could hardly breathe I was swimming in Elbow River. I was fine.
Two of my children became diving champions there as well.
I was studying day and night and in the evenings
I was listening to the radio to learn English, which I couldn't speak at all.
I took and passed the examination.
It's called Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).
I worked very hard, but I passed the examination.
At first in America I had a job as a resident in a private hospital.
Meanwhile I went to see Dr. James Pierce Junior,
an important urologist at Wayne State University.
I told him of unconscionable mistakes I had seen at the hospital.
By those coming from Asia or Africa who knew nothing about surgery,
and that I couldn't work like them.
He told me that that was not the kind of medicine they were practicing there.
He asked me to come and work with him. I told him that I knew nothing about transplant.
I had never seen it in my life.
He told me not to worry. He was very satisfied.
He wanted me to stay and work with him, but I had my children to take care of,
who had already made me spend over half a million dollars on their education.
So I had to go. I went into private practice.
I asked him not to be mad at me, but that was my situation.
I would be happy to remain here, but what would I do with them ?
- The Oak - ''- Mitica, I want to tell you something. - Tell me.''
''I want to have your baby.''
Let me present them one by one.
The oldest is Rodica, violinist and computer engineer with a master's degree.
She lives in San Jose and she has two beautiful boys.
- The Oak - ''I wonder what kind of child could we have together.''
''He could either a genius or an idiot.''
''You're right. If he's an idiot I'll kill him myself.''
This is Dacia, she's more peppery.
She used to be a diving champion not only in Canada and America,
but in Romania as well.
She's a gynecologist. She has three children.
My son Traian graduated from two medical schools.
He won the Golden Gloves and a kick boxing title.
Sabina is an English and Spanish teacher.
Traian has a boy too. Sabina has a boy named Gabriel.
And the last one is Ines.
She's very smart and she could have achieved more,
but she chose to go into management.
She has a daughter that got married early and who has two children.
So I have two great-grandchildren.
So if I count them all they are five grandsons and three granddaughters.
And two great-grandchildren. So I've done my duty in this regard as well.
During communism
makin babies was the only thing I did without needing permission.
The important thing in this life is to have the satisfaction.
That you have done your duty as a human being.
As far as dreams of riches go, I had an enormous contempt towards them.
That's why I've never accepted any money from anyone.
I haven't accepted any titles from anyone.
No academic or professor titles,
even though I have all the necessary qualification.
I was never interested in them.
If I were to live my life all over again,
like I did at 11 years old, when I came to this hospital to help the wounded,
I would do the same. I would go on with my life from the same point.
Myself and Baieşu Guţă.
We were both young. Around 30 years old.
Guţă was a short guy. He used to smoke and suffered from arthritis
and all kinds of infections, he was very thin.
One day I met Guţă with his funny baby face and we talked.
I brought him to this hospital in Râmnicu Vâlcea
and made a new person out of him.
One day at the hospital, the hospital manager Nae Fâcă,
a decent man, radiologist, large as a mountain,
told me ''how did you manage to do all this ?''
And he showed me the newspaper.
The title of the story was ''THIRTY EIGHT POINT TWO''
with a big dedication written to Doctor Grigore Schileru.
I read it and I was amazed.
That's how the story began.
Footage from the following feature films was used:
''The Oak'' screenplay by Lucian Pintilie
directed by Lucian Pintilie after Ion Băieşu's novel.
''Red Apples'' directed by Alexandru Tatos
screenplay by Ion Băieşu.
We thank for their support in making this film to:
Lucian Pintilie, Constantin Popescu Mircea Muresan, Ioan Barbu
Sixty years after the end of the second world war,
the United States President George W. Bush
recognized that the agreement at the Yalta Accord in February 1945,
ceding Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union, was one of the greatest mistakes of history.
Maria, Gheorghita and Grigore said he was right.
Even though nobody asked their opinion.
Translated by JULIAN & LAURA SEMILIAN