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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cinema Verité from Romania,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (DVD)
4 MONTHS 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS ('4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile') is a powerful film that asks us to witness several horrors - Ceau'sescu's communist Romania in 1987, illegal abortion, and the extremes/abuses of friendship. Writer/director Cristian Mungiu captures one day in the lives of a few common people in Bucharest, lingering over each of the individuals just long enough to sense the terror of the moment, but continuing to move the pace of the story at a speed that capitalizes on the incidents in life that come just short of stopping the world for the people immediately involved. It is a very tough movie to watch but a uniquely fascinating work of art that deserves plaudits for the bravery of those who created it.
Without introduction the viewer is placed in a dormitory in Bucharest where two roommates - Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) seem preoccupied with an unidentified appointment. Through the rapid progress of the actions of Otilia we learn that Gabita is pregnant and in need of an abortion. Because she is young and single and afraid to make her condition known, Gabita convinces her closest friend Otilia to make all of the arrangements. Otilia finds a hotel room, engages the black market abortionist Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) to meet the two girls that evening in a sleazy hotel to perform the abortion. Bebe may be shady but he is up front with the girls, explaining that Gabita is too far along for a safe abortion, but with sufficient money he agrees to perform the act (insufficient funds force Otilia to 'pay ' Bebe in a demeaning way). While Gabita awaits the action of the procedure performed, Otilia leaves her for a promised visit to her boyfriend Abi's (Alexandru Potocean) mother's birthday dinner. Otilia, distraught at the punishing circumstances of the day, finds it difficult to endure the superficial dialogue of Abi's family and friends and soon escapes the party to return to Gabita at the hotel. What she discovers severs the remaining traces of friendship bonding so tried by the 'victimized' selfish and arrogant Gabita, and the film ends as strangely as it begins - life simply goes on no matter how brutal the realities are. Mungiu elects to tell his story (based on a true story shared with him by a friend) as a spontaneous moment, abetted by feeling the prolonged shooting takes of the film provide. The acting is excellent in the manner in which it seems improvised. There are many aspect of the film that will make many viewers avert the eyes, but the message is so clear that staying with the film to the end drives home many facts and truths that beg for awareness. Cristian Mungiu is a talent to watch. In Romanian with subtitles. Grady Harp, July 08
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A powerhouse film that will shake you to your core...,
By
This review is from: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (DVD)
It's taken a while for me to get comfortable with the idea of writing a review for this film, namely because the film has effected me to such an extreme that it's almost too painful to put into words. I have always had an emotional reaction to anything dealing with the death and or mistreatment of a child and I am extremely pro-life and highly against the act of abortion, so I knew going into this movie that I was going to be an emotional wreck. I actually expected to despise to film and or find immense fault with it.
I can't do that because there are no faults to be found. `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' follows the efforts of two women to secure an illegal abortion in Romania during the 1980's. Our main focal point is Otilia, roommate to the pregnant Gabriela, as she finds Bebe, the man willing to perform the abortion; and thus begins their very long evening. The film is marvelously shot in a manner that draws you into the lives of these two women. The camera slowly lags behind, allowing us to follow them as if we were an outsider peering into their world without their knowledge; allowing us to know them from a distance, seeing their true colors and not the façade they throw up in front of the ones they know and love. The rawness and grittiness of the film carries with it a sense of reality. What is so painful about `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' is that it feels as it this is a home video and this situation is not a fictional movie but real life. The script is expertly written to come across real and believable. The dialog is conversational, awkward and sincere. Director/screenwriter Cristian Mungiu must be singled out and praised for his beautiful and honest handling of this material, for had he mishandled the film in any way it would have lost its presence and depth. The acting is triumphant and really procures this film's brilliance. Anamaria Marinca is flawless as Otilia. What I love so much about her performance is that she really made this movie all about her. She is not the pregnant woman undergoing the strenuous abortion yet Otilia is just as devastatingly effected by the procedure and the outcome and thus we are able to experience what she is experiencing because we too are just an outsider peering in. As the film progresses we can witness the layers of protection pealing away from Otilia's guard until she is finally exposed in all her rawness as human and deeply conflicted. Laura Vasiliu is also extremely impressive as Gabriela. Her panicky mannerisms and paranoid tendencies ring so true for her situation, and like Marinca, Vasiliu allows her characters guard to slowly drop so that we are gradually shown who she really is. Vlad Ivanov has a small but very crucial part in the film as Bebe. His performance is uncanny, truly gut-wrenching as we see the selfishness and heartlessness that comes from having a power over weaker ones. His character is easy to hate but his performance is even easier to adore. With all that said, there is much more to `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' than a great script, superb acting and flawless direction. `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' is the only film, and I mean only film, that was able to unlock something within me that has been caged for a long time. I remember literally shaking throughout the duration of the film, my hands clenching my sofa cushions tightly and my skin shivering over my bones. I remember my breath left me a few times and I had to fight to focus on the screen; my eyes blurred by the sting of tears. Like I said at the outset of my review, the life of a child is something very near and dear to me. Being a father (a new father at that) I have very strong opinions on the matter and so this film was very hard for me to watch. There are many disturbing scenes, not necessarily graphic (although there are some) but disturbing in the sense that what you are witnessing goes against every you have ever truly believed in (that is if you believe as I do); but I think even if you are pro-choice and have no quarrels with the idea of abortion, this film will strike you at your very core. This is the only, and I mean only, film that has ever made me weep. What is so amazing about `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' is that by its end you are forced to really sympathize with both sides of the spectrum and that final scene, with Otilia and Gabriela at the table really explains in full the feelings of the audience at that very moment. As they are obviously thinking `what have we just done' we as the audience are thinking `what did we just witness'. The film is very neutral which works to its advantage. This is not a film about pro-choice or pro-life; it is merely a film about a choice made to take a life and the emotional distress it causes the ones involved. `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' bleeds dry with honesty, and honesty that is haunting because it strikes so close to home. I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' again. Like I mentioned, the film made me weep. I literally finished the film and then walked straight into my daughter's room and curled into the fetal position on her floor and wept. I felt emotionally drained; empty so-to-speak. Since seeing this film (about three or four months ago now) I have been able to think of nothing else. It's because of this that I must admit `4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si 2 Zile' to be one of the greatest films I've ever seen. No, it was not a desired `experience' but honestly the film is the very definition of what a film should be. It is a very difficult film to get through and it brings to the table feelings of hate, misery, regret and guilt, but in the end it will leave with you a part of its soul, and only a masterpiece can do something like that.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The challenge involved with an illegal abortion,
By
This review is from: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (DVD)
Four Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) is a film that throws you into the world of illegal abortion, the price, the fear, the risk, the aftermath. And, mostly, it is about friendship and obligation. The setting takes place in Romania, 1987. Two college roommates arrange to obtain money for an illegal abortionist, a character of slime, who further asks for sexual favors. The abortion is performed.
The film has won many major awards, it is filmed with no music whatsoever. Although not a documentary, the viewer gets this impression and feeling. The film has many tense moments, moments that make the viewer feel and understand the desperation a young person takes, and yet the tragic cruelty of an abortion, if one is on that side. We feel for the friend (Otilia) who risks a lot to help her friend, taking the time for the necessity of making this happen, yet she also obligates herself to be at a dinner party with her boyfriend's family. The scenes are filled with tension, as we know the abortion will happen and must happen safely. What is especially tense as Otilla's task to destroy the fetus, and that longshot scene in the dark, lonely, fearful, stressful back streets in order to destroy it. DVD Bonus! Don't miss the wonderful interviews with the director, who offers in great length his motives and challenges to do the film. He covers everything, and refers to many scenes, etc. And more interesting is the insight to the very few theatres in Romania and its challenges for the director. Plus, the cinematographer provides extensive information into the lighting used, and the long shots into that fearful night, a girl alone with a fetus to destroy. If one is into the art of filmmaking, this is very informative. Excellent movie for all to see. ....Rizzo
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