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One of the few Rumanian films shown in Australia, When the Mist is Lifting, like Stars, deals with the theme that each person must make a contribution to the prevention of wars.

The story is set during the Second World War. The young man is dying on the front. Shells are exploding all around him. With a last effort he drags his body towards a packet of bandages which have been left behind by his fellow soldiers. His eyes immobile are looking at something, at something in the past which is like a dream undoing the threads of memory. He remembers different people, situations, and is feverishly looking for an answer: Why must he die so young? Why was his father unbalanced after coming home, crippled, from the first world war?

The film's director has made economical use of dialogue, preferring the use of suggested images to create the portraits of the young man, his father the crippled watchman of the mausoleum, Serdich the violonist, and the resigned mother. The tragedy of the two heroes unfolds in a sombre atmosphere. Both father and son have sacrificed their lives for nothing. They did not realise that one can and must fight to prevent wars.