Review of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) by Harris L — 19 Dec 2008

Absolutely stunning. For me the film lived up to all the hype it got and then some. I could throw out exclamation after exclamation about this, but nothing compares to just sitting down and watching it.

To be thrown into the waning days of communist Romania, known as the Golden Years; to enter this world, where things are in motion and you just have to go with it. It just is, so deal with it.

Writer/director/producer Cristian Mungiu creates a living, breathing world on all fronts. He and his collaborators, especially cinematographer Oleg Mutu, production designer Mihaela Poenaru and the production and post sound departments are masters of nuance and mood. Symbolism is present in the film, but no one is hitting a hammer over the audience's heads.

It is a very successful telling of what it was like to live in an oppressed society, mainly because he shows us in extremely unobtrusive ways, where you understand the facts of life in a moment and move on, deepening the picture. Far more engrossing and effective than say something like [i]The Lives of Others[/i], which spells things out too clearly, taking any sense of life the characters have, turning them into experiments or stock.

The film never lets up, it moves at a clip. A strong, steady undercurrent of tension is set from the get go. At almost 2 hours it felt like one, there is no time to turn away or catch your breath.

As much as this sounds like a thriller or even a horror film (by some accounts it could be), this is a film about people. Desperate people. Weak people. Strong people. All oppressed. In their aquariums, behind glass.

And that brings us to Mungiu's greatest collaborators, Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasilu. Marinca is our heroine Otilia, Vasilu is her friend, Gabita who needs an abortion. If acting is living then this is acting. These are performances where dissection takes any real weight or breadth out of them and again the film should just be watched and taken in.

Marinca is steadfast and loyal to her friend. Strong and resilient when Gabita can never be. Gabita is weak, she manipulates out of desperation. She breathes in the oppressed nature of her country every second and submits. Otilia risks all for someone who might be too scared to be grateful. Someone who would not do the same for Otilia, if she were in the same situation.