Most of Nicolaescu's films are built around figures and events in Romanian history, and although showing superior mastery, in the (imposed) realistic approach they somewhat follow the patterns of historical movies from the Communist governed countries. During the Communist period, some of these movies were seen as ground-breaking through either their way of publicly presenting Romanian history, or the masterful depiction of the heroical dimension of its history. For instance, the movie "Războiul independenţei" was the first picture made during the Communist-era in Romania to describe a King of Romania (namely Carol I) in a positive fashion. On the other hand, "Mircea" (1989, also known as "Proud Heritage") was considered by some critics as being a less artistically fulfilled endeavour. Nevertheless, "Mircea" was officially blocked from distribution, until the Romanian Revolution of 1989 ("All I've done was to present a different state leader than Nicolae Ceaușescu. He understood and stopped the movie [from premiere]"). Yet, when "Mircea" was finally released to the public the film was very well appreciated.