Constantin Reliu is a Romanian man in his 60s who found himself in a remarkable (though oddly not unique) situation: he had been declared dead in absentia while demonstrably still breathing, and he found the legal system had no interest in reversing the situation. Cornel Brad’s 45-minute 2019 documentary accompanies him as he attempts to get his life back on track, teasing out the story from a not particularly articulate subject. So, who is he, and what brought about this sorry situation in which he found himself?
Reliu, from Bârlad in north-eastern
Romania, is a cook by profession.
Leaving his family behind, he had moved to Turkey in 1992 to work and
had been happy despite being bedridden for many months with a number of
injuries following the 1999 Turkish earthquake.
That year was also the last time he had last seen his family and he had
had no contact with them subsequently. Unfortunately,
he was caught up in a police sweep following the 2016 failed coup and deported
to Romania by the Turkish authorities as his documents had expired. He concedes he would have purchased forged documents
in Turkey had he got round to it and stayed there indefinitely.
Planning to renew his documents and return
to Turkey, what he only found out when he was back in Romania was that in 2013
his wife had requested the issue of a death certificate for him as the last
known record was in 1999, and it was presumed he had died in the
earthquake. If it had not been for the
deportation he might never have known what had happened, continuing his life in
Turkey in blissful ignorance of his demise.
The practical consequence was that in Romania he found it impossible to
earn an honest living, leaving him penniless, as employers would not hire him
without ID, and for the same reason he could not receive state support. The decision left him in legal limbo.
His plight generated a great deal of
publicity, but the film gets behind the bald newspaper statements to hear his
side of the story (though not his wife’s).
It describes his difficult homecoming in 2016, in poor health and out of
contact with his family. His wife was in
a relationship in Italy he claimed was bigamous (which as he had been declared
dead seems unlikely), and his daughter insulted him and refused to speak to him
as she blamed him, perhaps with some justification, for deserting her. It’s all
a bit like a reverse version of My
Favourite Wife, with Reliu in the Irene Dunne part, though here it is Reliu
who got the push, not the new spouse.
Back in his home town after almost a
quarter of a century abroad, he looks lonely and lost, with his life on hold. Fortunately he is able to stay in the family
home in Bârlad, but he has trouble finding enough money to subsist on, and
spends much of his time trying to obtain funds from friends. He cannot afford medical treatment, though kind-hearted
medical staff assist him. He concludes
that when he was in Turkey his family did not really care whether he was alive
or dead, and when he got back to Romania he realised nobody was happy he had
shown up.
He claims his wife acted deceitfully by having
him declared dead, so she could acquire his assets; he implies that she knew he
was probably alive, but a declaration of death was more convenient than
divorce. How she would know this he does
not say. He does say he had bought her
many things which she had sold, she had put the flat in her name, sold the
contents and then left for Italy.
Unfortunately for her, he continues, his turning up had ruined her
plans, whereas if she had not had him declared dead, he would have gone quietly
back to Turkey as soon as he had made the arrangements.
An obvious question is why Reliu did not
contact his family during all those years in Turkey, and as he settles some
scores with his wife a fuller picture of his motives emerges. He alludes to how he cooled off in the
marriage after a few months when he learned about her affairs, and he found her
difficult to live with. He would leave
for periods, but after only a few days when he was back home she would ask when
he was leaving again, bringing home lovers while he slept on the sofa
(allegedly, one should add).
When he came home in July1999 he found his
wife still carrying on. Chagrined, he
felt his best revenge was not violence or divorce but to let her suffer alone,
though it doesn’t sound as though she was suffering too much. He probably thought remaining incommunicado would prevent her marrying
again, not dreaming what she would do.
As a form of punishment for an errant wife his scheme backfired
spectacularly, and to a large extent he has been the author of his own
misfortune. He should have just divorced
her, like most people do when their marriages break down, though he does not
help his case as the injured party when asked what his major vice is, and he
replies, surprisingly, ‘sex’ (Brad probably assumed he would say the cigarettes
which must eat up a significant chunk of his disposable income). There may be dimensions to the situation not
covered by the film.
Naturally Reliu wanted to reverse the
decision declaring him dead, but he found it was not as straightforward as
going to court and pointing out he really wasn’t dead, and they could pinch him
if they wanted to make sure. His first
attempt in March 2018 to have himself reinstated among the quick failed because
the court upheld his status as dead, even though he was standing in front of
them. Apparently, this was because he
was too late filing his claim, as if an artificial time limit took priority
over the rights both of a citizen and of common sense. It was a bizarre triumph of bureaucracy over
humanity, content to perpetuate Reliu’s zombie-like status to keep the
paperwork in order.
(Another example of state-sanctioned
idiocy in Romania came a few days after that decision, when Valerian Vasiliu
was given his driving licence back after a successful appeal against a speeding
conviction, even though he had died in the meantime. There seems to be a certain inflexibility in
the Romanian judicial system which finds it difficult to back-pedal decisions
even when they are shown to be risible.)
But, finally, Reliu had some luck. The film was symbolically shot over Easter
2018, one resurrection prefiguring another, and end titles note he was finally
declared legally alive after a second attempt in July 2018. A wrinkle of that situation is his wife’s
marital status, though as she could argue she remarried in good faith having a
document to prove her first husband was deceased, it seems unlikely a bigamy
charge would stick. In any case, we are
informed that Reliu finally filed for divorce, and asked for punitive
damages, though on what grounds was not made clear. At the time of making the film his wife and
daughter had only had contact through lawyers.
Sadly, you know that being resurrected may ease his financial worries,
but he is still not going to be a happy man.
The film is available on the Cinepub
YouTube platform:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VPQ22h_k8I&t=692s
