A surprising new film aired at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival – the venue for all that is politically correct.
It's the story of how WND columnist Chuck Norris' anti-communist films, smuggled into Romania, helped bring down the detestable regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, one of the many real monsters of Stalinist totalitarianism.
It's called "Chuck Norris vs. Communism."
Now, let me say at the outset, I have not seen the film. WND made repeated requests to the filmmakers for a screener to no avail. We even investigated attending the film festival just to see it, but there were no hotel rooms available.
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Watch the trailer:
Nevertheless, even without seeing the movie, it seems there's an interesting story here.
Romania under Ceausescu was one of the real hellholes of the world. It is a marvel of modern times that, despite his stifling grip on the Romanian people – similar to dictator Kim Jong-un's total oppression of North Korea's people today – Ceausescu was nevertheless deposed and killed by firing squad in 1989 during a popular uprising. As WND readers well know, the credit for that must go to Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, Ceausescu's top adviser and head of Romanian foreign intelligence until a crisis of conscience led him to defect to America in 1978. Once here, Pacepa wrote his first book, "Red Horizons," which exposed the depravity and corruption of Ceausescu and his wife. During the Christmas Day 1989 trial of Ceausescus, the charges against them were taken, almost word for word, out of Pacepa's international bestseller.
But, one might well ask, where did the horribly oppressed and beaten-down Romanian people get the courage and spirit to revolt in the first place? Where did they get the idea that people can fight and beat communism? What inspiration of freedom and guts might have strengthened their resolve?
During Ceausescu's reign, there was only one television channel permitted in Romania. One Romanian man, however, was able to obtain a VCR. A VCR, for any youngsters reading, was a device that played video tapes of movies. He held movie nights and featured, among other fare, the Chuck Norris movies "Lone Wolf McQuade" and "Missing in Action."
"Chuck Norris vs. Communism" features testimonials from Romanians who attended those parties, as well as people involved in producing the bootleg tapes dubbed in Romanian.
As one reviewer commented, "It's a celebration of cinema as art and the power of cinema to give people hope and even inspire change."
What I am telling you, according to all I can gather, is that Chuck Norris movies of the 1980s helped prepare the "hearts and minds" of the population to eventually overthrow Ceausescu, according to documentarian Ilinca Calugareanu.
By the way, the bootlegger of these films – a man named Zamfir – apparently became one of the richest men in the country providing the public access to the Chuck Norris action movies.
How did he do it?
It seems the secret police were curious about seeing Chuck Norris movies, too.
So far, many of the reviews from predominantly "progressive" critics have predictably panned the documentary.
Many of them probably have no idea what a beastly tyrant Ceausescu really was. Or, perhaps, political correctness prevents them from revealing the details of his murderous regime. The full story is told in books by Pacepa, not just in "Red Horizons," but in his most recent blockbuster book, co-authored with historian Ronald Rychlak, titled "Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism." There is also a terrific film documentary based on the book, titled "Disinformation: The Secret Strategy to Destroy the West." And now, a feature Hollywood movie based on Pacepa's life, as depicted in "Disinformation," is in development.
To sum it all up, if this new Norris documentary is accurate, it seems two WND personalities were responsible for bringing down Ceausescu, albeit it in very different ways – Pacepa and Norris.
I don't know when America will get a chance to watch "Chuck Norris vs. Communism." But I do know you have a chance to watch the Pacepa-inspired "Disinformation" right now.
It's worth noting that when Pacepa defected to the U.S., he was within a hair's breadth of being returned to certain death in Romania by then-President Jimmy Carter, who thought Ceausescu rocked.
While Ceaușescu didn't always follow Moscow's party line, he ran the most rigidly Stalinist regime in the world, with the possible exception of his good friends in North Korea. He starved his people. He warehoused orphans in deplorable conditions. His secret police, the Securitate, was one of the most brutal forces in the world, which is why Pacepa is still living in the U.S. under an assumed identity to this day.
So, say amen for Chuck Norris and Mike Pacepa – and watch out for this promising documentary, "Chuck Norris vs. Communism."
Related story: "Chuck Norris now credited for cracking communism"
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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