The atrocities committed under Ceausescu's draconian regime and in its aftermath have now been widely publicized. Romania, the taming of the intellectuals delves more deeply into the motives of the writers, filmmakers, painters, poets and intellectuals who praised the regime and its chief architect. In addition to groundbreaking interviews with these artists and intellectuals who collaborated with Ceausescu, the documentary makes use of local footage never before seen.

Dr. Michael Shafir, the head of the Romanian research department of Radio Free Europe and an authority on Romanian affairs, leads the viewer through the maze of relationships beween Romania's creative elite and its tyrannical regime. One such relationship is interwoven through the film: footage of mass rallies led by the poet Adrian Paunescu, who was Ceausescu's protege, are juxtaposed with present day interviews with him. This strange symbiosis provides one of the twentieth century's great enigmas.