The World Is Mine (2015) User Reviews (5)

Same Sensationalism Employed In Virtually Every Romanian Movie ...

[razvan-rogoz · 5/10 · 25 April 2017]

This movie is plagued with the same problems as virtually most Romanian movies. It tries to be an ultra-realistic depiction of reality, exaggerating (up to an extreme) the social and mindset problems of Romania. It follows the same format as every other Romanian movie released in the last two decades - you know it is a train-wreck, you know that it is going to end up bad and yet, you can't take your eyes away from it.

Have you've ever watched a movie just because of nudity? Or because of violence? You know that the movie is crap but yet, something keeps you there. Well, this is what this movies does too. It keeps you not by being shocking but rather, by trying to be a social commentary of the Romanian society and making it so black and white that you can't but watch. You know that it is stupid but you'll keep watching anyway.

It is good to watch if you are actually doing something else, as you don't need to pay a lot of attention but generally, I've found it so full of clichés and that I can hardly say this is a quality movie. It is sensationalism, the equivalent of a tabloid in movie format and I'm sorry to say, but I haven't seen any good movie from Romania for way too long.

Predictable but not that awful

[Radu_A · 5/10 · 2 December 2016]

I only write a review for this because the other review here is unfair, and I'm ticked off by racist slurs like "gypsy criminal music" for Manele, which doesn't appear that much in the film. And there isn't much profanity, don't get your hopes up. My guess is the reviewer was outraged at the "gypsy sweet-talks stupid girl and then dumps her like garbage" plot element. It doesn't really matter though that the guy is a Rom, and there's a more vicious scumbag later in the film who is not of that ethnicity.

It's true that this is a very predictable "rebellious teenage girl's descent into hell" story, a genre Romanian film deals with a lot because it works well with film festivals. And indeed, this won best debut feature at the two main Romanian festivals, which means some people think the director might be the next Porumboiu or Puiu. I hope not because of the cliché water symbolism and weak script, but all these new Cinema Verité guys started out with stories like this.

In short, this is not a disturbingly misogynist teen girl film like, for instance "WebSiteStory", and not a careful portrait like "American Honey". It's boring standard Romanian realist film festival fare.

Lifestyle of .. a romanian teenager (?)

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 25 May 2023]

No pun intended - since I am not too aware of the Romanian film/movie landscape I am not going to pretend to know if this is just another movie that tries to shock and is in the same vein as the "others" ... I just am not able to confirm or deny this allegation I read in another users review. I'll take that reviewers word for it ... but can't rate or see it in his or her eyes.

Talking about perspective, the movie is told from the perspective of a teenage girl ... one that is more than just troubled. The issues she has are not just from the outside (be it family, friends, school, boys, girls and other stuff that she has to deal with), but also from within herself. So it won't be easy to completely identify with her I reckon ... and the ending will not really seem like a resolve of much ... you'll have to make up your own interpretation of what the very last frame is telling us ... is it literal or metaphorical? I'd say the latter ... but feel free to disagree.

Pretense and bland vulgarity

[Ana_Banana · 3/10 · 24 May 2016]

The film looks rather ambitious, exploring the sordid dramas of a teenage girl coming from a dysfunctional family. The recurring dream-like motif of water (drowning, flooding, and so on) is but a transparent metaphor for her situation, as she is trapped by the deceits of others and by her own out of control impulses. Acting is sometimes surprisingly realistic, and sometimes awfully rigid. To sum it up, the film depicts in a rather believable way the downfall of a contemporary young girl from the lower class, deprived of any decent feelings or role models. When the movie ends, she is indeed depicted as ripe for the only way out conceivable for her: prostitution.

All this is tragic, but now let's see the film's weaker side. Tragedy, like any art form, needs contrast. In this movie we only see promiscuity, violence, cursing, irresponsible behavior, booze, drugs, tramps, rape, and so on. No one offers a helping hand, all the characters are lowlifes, some even criminals, school is non-existent, underage girls dress and behave like tramps. It's all nothing but a degraded, decomposing society obsessed with fame and fortune, which has adopted the talk, the look, the way of life and sometimes the music of gypsy criminals ("manele"), with no alternative of civil behavior or education - which is wildly exaggerated. That world exists indeed, sadly, but not just that. To watch for an entire film just criminals, lowlifes and underage promiscuous girls cursing and fighting (both verbally and physically, in an impulsive, beastly way) is too much and sometimes cringe-worthy. And in the end it's boring.

Realistic movie which should be seen and understood by everyone

[irina-83308 · 9/10 · 27 December 2020]

This is a movie which follows the story of a teenager who lives in an abusive home, taking care of her grandmother. She is bullied at school by a rich girl because they like the same guy who is only looking for sex from her and then treats her badly, laughing at her and also laughing with the boys about her "stupidity". She fights back, she runs from home. She turns up depressed, abusing of alcohol and parties and gets raped by someone else who she trusted. She then says the she doesn't care about how life is, but she knows that she will be ok. It is a brutally honest story, relatable to girls all around the world, not just in Romania. She is in a society in which money and fame matter, but in what society they don't matter? The characters have a sensible backstory which drives their decisions. The money indeed are a problem, but they are not the moral of the story. This is an alarm to all the abusive people, parents, friends to think of what they are doing. The description of this movie is making the girl sound like she asked for everything and she deserved it because she was stubborn, when she was in fact the victim of her environment and she tried to resist and escape it. She realised she does not have enogh power to do it and then she became the victim again, until she finally said stop and found the power not to drown. The acting is well-done, the setting and the characters are made to create the atmosphere and the context in order to make people understand her background. The school is there, but as we all know also from American High School movies, the ones with money have the power, intentions and motives do not matter. The cursing and the fights between girls are there because they also exist. Indeed, for people who do not speak romanian, the wprda used sound bad, weird, lame or very insulting. However, they are not near the worst cursing words tha language offers.