This paper discusses the cinematic expressions of a cultural experience which had a huge impact on Romanian and Hungarian society: namely both countries' national revolutions. In focus are two films, one from each country: Children of Glory by Kriszta Goda and The Paper Will Be Blue by Radu Muntean. I will try to demonstrate that, despite the many surface similarities, the movies are built on very different narrative structures and cinematic elements. In Bordwellian terms, one has a classical, the other an art cinema narration. Following on from this, the act of re-inventing history has very different results in the two movies.