Prea târziu (1996)

Against the backdrop of violence and poverty in Romanian society during the transition of the 1990s, the film tells the story of a young prosecutor, Dumitru “Mitică” Costa, who is sent to a mining town to investigate a crime committed in a mine. The mine’s management authorities obstruct the prosecutor’s investigation, fearing that public outrage could jeopardize the valley’s only source of income: mining. The prosecutor settles in the town, visits the mine, and begins a relationship with Alina, a young surveyor. After following a false lead that points to a member of the secret services living abroad, Mitică realizes that the killer lives in the mine and kills his victims for food. To drive him out of the tunnel, he shuts off the ventilation and seals all the entrances, then waits for him at the mine exit with a group of armed men.