dictator in the World War II period (his Începutul adevărului, also known as Oglinda), or glorified the World War I heroine Ecaterina Teodoroiu (Triunghiul morţii, also known as Triangle of Death). An accomplished battle scenes director, Sergiu Nicolaescu, as legend has it, would have been able to film some 70–80 meters of useful shots in the same amount of time that the average director would need in order to produce 12–15 meters. Although his last films were not as popular as his earlier productions, he continued to direct new films, such as Orient Express (2004) or Cincisprezece (2005), a love story set during the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Supravietuitorul (2008), Carol I (2009) and Poker (2010). When asked to nominate three movies he made that he most liked, Nicolaescu chose Mihai Viteazul (also known as Michael the Brave), Osanda (also known as The Doom) and Atunci i-am condamnat pe toti la moarte (also known as Then I Sentenced Them All to Death). Politician Nicolaescu started his political career during the 1989 Romanian Revolution. At the time the Revolution took place he was very well known and respected for his films, in Romania. He participated actively at the Romanian Revolution and his appearance and speech during the Revolution brought about coherence and clarity to the people who listened. In December 1989 he was received with a standing ovation (his name) from the crowd of hundreds of thousands of Romanians gathered in the heart of Bucharest after Nicolae Ceaușescu left power on 22 December 1989. He called for calm, and asked the crowd to listen to and support Ion Iliescu. Nicolaescu went on to play an important political role during the Revolution and was elected to the Romanian Senate in 1992 as a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party. He left the party in April 2011, and then rejoined it after only two days. In 2005 Nicolaescu declared in an interview that he was not happy with his decision of going into politics. He felt that the politics took too much from his precious time and because of that he was not able to do as many films as before the Revolution. Personal life Sports and personal life Nicolaescu said that as a young boy, he practiced many sports like athletics, equestrianism, boxing, shooting, and rugby. According to the public information available, Nicolaescu was a very active person and he had