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HARD TO WATCH. IMPOSSIBLE TO LOOK AWAY
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (NR) In
the 10 months, 2 weeks and 6 days since
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days became the
first Romanian film to win the Palme d'Or
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the film
has claimed nearly every award for which it
has been nominated. Writer-director Cristian
Mungiu has crafted a horror film (in execu
tion if not genre) unbelievable in its intensity
and relentless in its
pursuit of verisimili
tude. In the terrifying,
paranoid world of
communist Romania
circa 1987, two col
lege students plan an
overnight trip in the
midst of their final
exams, but the trip is
no vacation. Gabita
is pregnant and has
arranged to have
an illegal abortion.
Having been given
strict instructions by the rough practitioner,
Gabita has followed none of them, making this
unbearably stressful criminal act even more
difficult for herself and her selfless friend.
The first in a series called Tales from
the Golden Age, a project proposing to lift
the veil from Romania's communist history
through subjective, urban legend, 4 Months
is a powder keg filled with powerful, topical
explosives. Its brutally honest depiction of
an illegal abortion should give pause to pro-
choicers and pro-lifers alike. The dangers stunt
the growth of any argument to criminalize the
act here in the U.S., yet its utterly necessary,
stomach churning money shot should stun
even the pro-est of choicers into silence. The
film is so convincing, one wonders if Mungiu.
making only his second feature film, quite
knew what he had his hands on. The world he
has created seems so
very real; Marinca, his
lead actress, ensures
so with her bravura.
Kudos also to Vasiliu;
Gabita's vacillating
cowardice denies her
any sympathy, drawing
even more attention
to Otilia's saintliness
and Marinca's perfor
mance. The eloquent
shot selection—static,
long takes interspersed
with shaky handheld
sequences and pregnant pauses which will
make the sturdiest audience member squirm
show a masterly understanding of world
cinema. 4 Months requires a filmgoer with
tremendous stamina. But those viewers who
brave the trip will bear witness to an unfor
gettable cinematic lesson in the social history
of the recent past.
Drew Wheeler
Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasilm
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