This month the Criterion Channel is featuring a Romanian New Wave collection, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing all of them. I started with one that I had already seen, and I suppose the statement "I had already seen one of the Roman New Wave films" is a whole other degree of film whoredom. I was considering using Cristian Mungiu's 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days for a final project in my Images of Fascism class, although in the end it's probably too rough for my fragile little knuckleheads (which, obviously, has never stopped me in the past). It's set in the 1980s during the Nicolae Ceausescu dictatorship, and it tells the story of two college roommates, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) who set out to get an abortion, then illegal in Romania, for the latter's unwanted pregnancy. It caused a stir because of the abortion theme, although to claim that the film is only about abortion is like saying that The Deer Hunter is only about three friends who volunteer for the Vietnam War. It's a pretty nightmarish tale, and it speaks volumes about the inhumanity that authoritarian regimes engender. Anamaria Marinca is especially good. Highly recommended.
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