The Certainty of Probabilities

As an instrument of ideological domination, language, both verbal and visual, defines, describes, delimits and dissimulates the manner in which the social, political and economic reality of a society is perceived. In order to critique a dominant group's ideology, one must fragment and recontextualize its discourse. The Certainty of Probabilities seeks such a critique. Comprised entirely of archival footage produced during 1968, one of the most optimistic and prosperous years in the history of socialist Romania by the most important state-run documentary film studio, this essay film surveys the efforts undertaken by the state in order to ensure social stability in a society claiming to have quashed all exploitative and alienating labour relations.