Beyond the Hills.

Alec Barclay opened his introduction of this weeks Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club screening of Beyond the Hills (2012) by telling us a little about the director. After studying at the public University of Iasi Romanian born Cristian Mungiu worked as teacher and a journalist after which he studied film directing at the University of Film in Bucharest. Graduating in 1998 he made several short films and in 2002 made his first feature film Occident a film about young people that move to the West when they can’t makes ends meet in their own country. His best known, and second feature film, was the award winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007). This brilliantly observed film is set in the final years of the Ceausescu-era Romania and is the story of two young students, one of whom is pregnant and wants an illegal abortion. 

 

Alina tries to rekindle her 'friendship' with Voichita.

Our host went on to tell us a little of the background to this weeks film. Again written and directed by Mungiu but inspired by the non-fiction novels of Tatiana Niculescu Bran and based on a true story that happened in 2005 when a young novice was subjected to an exorcism. The story centres on of two young girls who have grown up in care and find themselves residing in a very strict Orthodox convent.  Alina (Cristina Fluter) returns to Romania from a waitressing job in Germany to persuade Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) to come back with her to Germany. But Alina discovers that her friend and lover is now a devout member of a religious community and is persuaded to move into the monastery where the groups leaders, known as mother and papa, try to convert their new inmate to the strict ways of their religious order. Refusing to conform, her behaviour gradually becomes increasingly strange with a series of violent outbursts and it is suspected that an evil spirit has possessed her.

 

Papa prays for Alina....

A lively discussion followed with some people criticising the film for being to long at 155 minutes, but the majority agreed that this welcome addition to Romanian cinema and was well worth its unhurried running time with a story that held you firmly in its grip. The films direction, its cinematography and the strength of the acting made the whole experience totally believable. The simplistic way of life of the religious community along with their superstitions and their bleak and unforgiving existence was totally credible. As was the underlying sexual urges of the two main protagonists, comparing the power of earthy love and that of heavenly love. Mungiu even made the members of this misguided religious order seem kind and considerate for all the enforced dogma.  Unquestionably this magnificent film makes you stop and think.

....as does Voichita.

If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle.

George Pistereau as Silviu.

Silviu, a young delinquent is about to be released from a young offenders institution located somewhere in the Rumanian countryside. Two things shape the last weeks of his detention. Firstly he discovers that his estranged mother has returned after eight years absence and intends to take his younger brother Marius, who he brought up single handily before his four-year prison sentence, back to Italy with her. The second is when an attractive young lady turns up at the prison to interview him for a sociology project as part of his release programme. Both these incidents combine to incite our naive young delinquent to act in a manner that will certainly affect his immediate prospects and more than likely the remainder of his life.

Ada Condeescu as Ana.

The tone of If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (2010) brings to mind the grittiness and reality of the BBC’s original Play for Today format and the films of the British New Wave. This is underlined by the hand held camera work of Marius Panduru and using actual inmates via a drama workshop, who had to be transported under guard to the film set, played many of the supporting roles. Even the charismatic George Pistereanu had very little acting experience before he played the main character.  This casting adds greatly to the authentic feel of the threat of  violence that hangs over the movie, something that keeps you on tender hooks throughout the film.

Perhaps not quite up to the standard of Jacques Audiard award winning French prison drama A Prophet (2009) but certainly the equal of the Danish prison drama R (2010). Director Florin Serban’s film deservedly won a Silver Bear Grand Jury Award at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival. This is the sort of film that remains in your consciousness long after the closing credits .You may not come out of the cinema with a grin across your face but it’s a movie you will appreciate far more than the fantasy world of bringing fish to the desert or old people retiring to a sanitised India.  That’s not to say I have anything against a good fantasy film’s my problem is when they masquerade as something more and are not.