Chuck Norris vs. Communism

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Chuck Norris vs Communism, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceau?escu limits television to a single, government-run channel, which only broadcasts two hours a day. As one Romanian puts it: denying 20 million people access to information was a way to "keep a whole country in ignorance for years."

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Chuck Norris vs. Communism, a Romanian citizen who lived through the repressive '80s remembers how he managed to smuggle in a video player (which cost as much as a car) and host word-of-mouth underground screenings of American films in his apartment. Dramatic recreations bring it all to life.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Chuck Norris vs. Communism, Irina Nistor, a translator whose distinct voice captivated Romania in the '80s and became a symbol of freedom, reflects on how she became addicted to dubbing American films on VHS for culture-deprived Romanians. She often dubbed six-to-ten films in a row.