Beyond The Hills |
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Directed by Cristian Mungiu, Romania 2012 150 mins. Romanian dialogue with English sub-titles |
Summary: |
Alina and Voichita are two young women in their mid-twenties. Old friends who grew up together in an orphanage, they reunite over a weekend. Alina has come back to Romania from Germany and wants Voichita to return with her; but Voichita is reluctant to leave the monastery where she lives with a dozen other women and a lone priest, believing she’s found a cure for crippling loneliness ... God. Mungiu embeds us in the world of her frugal, barren monastery over a few days, with Alina's presence forcing her to confront her beliefs. Meanwhile, her colleagues react with increasing hostility to the threat Alina poses to their way of life. |
What the Critics say: |
"Spare, unadorned and strikingly shot, Cristian Mungiu's film is an unusual rendering of a Romanian exorcism case and is bound to split both audience and critical opinions, some considering it a major achievement and others blaming it for overlong pretentious sensationalism. But it will certainly not pass unnoticed ..." (Dan Fainaru - Screen Daily) |