A New Dawn for Romania Cinema?

I went to JIFFEST 2007 last week, and catch a few movies. Movie festivals intrigued me because you can see movies that doesn't have any chance to get shown here at any other time.

One of those movies is 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. I haven't heard anything about this movie before, only its reputation as Palm D'or winner at the latest Cannes Film Festival.

It was definitely a different experience. I never watched any movies from Romania, or perhaps any movie from South Europe for that matter. The movie touch some serious subjects, and more importantly it told them with such brutal truth, you can't help but being sucked in the story.

Set in 1980s Romania, the movie tells a story about two college student, Gabita Dagut (Laura Vasiliu) who wants to terminate her pregnancy with the help of her roommate Otillia (Anamaria Marinca). At that time, any form of contraception and abortion is illegal in Romania. The offenders could face serious jailtime if caught. They seek the help of Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), a doctor who's willing to execute illegal abortion with a price.

The movie pace is quite slow at the beginning, but the tension really rise when Gabita and Otillia finally meet Bebe. It's quite astonishing to see the length that Otillia take to help Gabita to achieve the abortion. While the title of the movie is referring to Gabita pregnancy, the real 'lead' character in the movie is actually Otillia. She's the one who take charge and arrange the whole thing. She's also the one who also have to made the difficult decisions regarding her own boyfriend.

The movie takes a realistic snapshot at Romania at the 80s and what consequences you get after you made your decision. The movie was shot without any soundtrack, which just add to the realism of the movie.

Anamaria Marinca was superb as Otillia, playing her part with such conviction. But the best I think comes from Vlad Ivanov, who in his 15 minutes cameo as Bebe managed to pull his part with incredible intensity. The scenes where he appeared was the best in the movie as you really felt the tension and the emotion that filled each characters.

All in all, I was quite pleased with the movie. The movie was being touted to spark the emergence of Romania cinema, and with this proof, I wouldn't disagree.