A grim and intense story about love, faith, the presence of God and the absence of God, slowly penetrates the viewer's mind, so slowly that it takes Director and Screenplayer Cristian Mungiu more than two hours to make a convincing case for redemption. No doubt that he has a skilled team, to include Oleg Mutu (cinematography). This is not a horror movie; what is horrifying is the knowledge that it is based on a real story of a 2005 Christian Orthodox exorcism gone wrong, somewhere beyond the hills of Moldavia (a region in Eastern Romania). The scariest aspect is that it can happen to you, no need for a monastery or any kind of mental illness. All it takes is to express disdain against a highly controlled environment, the kind of environment that requires continuously patching the stove such that no smoke comes out to spoil the harmony of a strict yet loving family. The movie builds upon the viewer's expectancy that what can go wrong it will, and, with a remarkable lack of explicit violence, creates a gripping parallel reality where all imaginary roads are paved with good, harmful intentions. Both the priest and the doctor want to help, each in his system of reference. The police are interested in helping too, to the best of their ability. In the end, it's hard to blame or hate anybody for the strange turn of events. Even the priest (Valeriu Andriuta) draws some sympathy for his apparent lack of options. But hey, there is a bright side to this bleak work of art, not a masterpiece but still an outstanding work of art: the thin line between desire and rejection drawn by Cosmina Stratan (Voichita) and Cristina Flutur (Alina). Patched with moments of fragile silence and delicate whispers, their relationship evolves into one of the most tender and frightening love stories. Now, who harbors the Devil is still up for debate
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Marius_Stan14 October 2012
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alex807-11 November 2012I think it may make some sense to provide a bit of cultural background to shed some light on this movie, and help people decode it better.
As some other viewers already pointed out, the plot is based on a true story. Romanian media ran the story some years ago dubbing it a case of exorcism gone bad. A priest supposedly mistook a form of mental illness for satanic possession, the exorcism performed on the respective nun leading to her death by starvation. In reality, the nun was no such thing, but just a girl visiting the convent. The priest and the other nuns, who after a previous seizure had already referred the woman to a mental hospital, were talked into taking her back after she was discharged. Back at the monastery, the girl had another fit of sorts and they had to restrain her. A few days later she was dead from exhaustion. The court trying the case found the priest and some of the nuns guilty of wrongful death. The entire case was brilliantly documented by former BBC-journalist Tatiana Niculescu-Bran in two books, which the screenplay was based upon.
The affair did raise some questions regarding Romanian society, Cristian Mungiu was able to only shed a brief light on those aspects, but I think they are crucially for understanding the context.
The priest was somewhat of a maverick in the church. Mungiu implies that by telling that the Bishop would not bless the church, although it is more popular than the churches in the valley, and by having one of the nuns explaining that he has fallen in disgrace after renouncing his pay (Romanian priests are payed by the state). The Romanian region of Moldova is the poorest in the entire European Union, but - and probably for this exact reason - also a religious hotspot. In stark contrast to the poverty stricken people, the Romanian Orthodox Church is one of the richest entities, operating in such lucrative industries like timber, tourism, and manufacturing of religious paraphernalia. Clerics are supposed to be part of the game, when they refuse to do so, they basically get sacked - or, as in the present case, go rogue, retreating to makeshift compounds and recruiting "true" believers. On the other hand, people disappointed by the church's obsession with money tend to be attracted to such rebel priests, seen as more mystical and in line with the biblical way. The fact that the priest was an outcast prevented the church to openly take his side, although they pretty much come to the help of (morally) corrupt men of the cloth. People of a more secular background frown on both kinds of clerics, viewing them as blood sucking opportunists who prey on helpless, naive people. That explains the outburst of the doctor who receives the lifeless body of Alina towards the end of the movie, but also the implication of the foster father of sorts, that the nuns tried to rip her off by charging her more for medication expenses.
The relationship between the two girls is psychologically complex. Mungiu leaves some clues for a past love affair, but refrains from being explicit on the matter. The fact that the girls obviously love each other may have a different explanation. Like many other children, they grew up in an orphanage, being abandoned by the poor parents in the last years of the communist regime. Mungiu suggests multiple abuse in the facility and foster families, which we know to massively have occurred in those care homes. Alina came to be the protector of Voichita, who is a perfect victim. She would defend her fiercely and sees her new found "family" as a threat. Being possessive, it is possible that Alinas reaction is based on a jealousy, but she is also ambitious and may experience a sense of failure and guilt - she went abroad, leaving the gullible Voichita at the mercy of the manipulative priest, and now that she wants to take her back, Voichita seems to be firmly controlled by him. So Alina is in a threefold predicament: the backward priest sees her as a threat because she has been infected with Western sins and does not fit in his way of life, threatening his influence on the compound; she fails in convincing Voichita to join her; she has no place to go, having lost her job on a cruise ship in Germany. That could be enough to break a person and send her into despair.
Having said that, because at least Romanian viewers generally know the story and the backdrop, they are left only to pass judgement on the way Mungiu told it. In my view he does a good job. -
Albert Camus said, "The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding." These words become prophetic in Romanian director Cristian Mungui's Beyond the Hills, a powerful tale of religious and emotional obsession that leads to tragic consequences. Like his award winning abortion drama, 4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 Days, the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes in 2007, it is deliberately paced and can be demanding to the viewer unaccustomed to long takes without cuts or camera movements. Set in a remote Orthodox Christian convent in rural Moldova known as New Hill Monastery, Beyond the Hills is a social drama based on two books labeled "nonfiction novels" by Romanian journalist Tatiana Niculescu Bran concerning an exorcism in 2005 that became sensationalized in the press.
Filmed in -15 degree weather during the heaviest snow season in years, Oleg Mutu's cinematography makes us feel the bleakness and the cold, damp air inside a convent that has no electricity or running water. As the film begins, Alina (Cristina Flutur) has returned from Berlin to the town in which she grew up. She is met at the train station by Voichita (Cosmina Stratan), her best friend and partner since their years together in an orphanage. Voichita believes she has found her direction, however, in the convent where she is a novice and has become emotionally attached to the priest she calls "Papa" (Valeriu Andriuta) and the mother superior (Dana Tapalaga).
Alina, a sometimes believer, has come to rescue her friend from what she feels is the church's domination and is unprepared for Voichita's unwillingness to leave with her and work together on a German cruise ship. She tells Alina that she has found a sense of family and has been changed by her experience. Though she lovingly invites her friend to give herself to the Lord, Alina feels betrayed. A tug of war develops between the church's fear of the "unbeliever", and their wish to provide sanctuary, knowing that Alina has nowhere else to go. Under threat by those around her, Voichita finds herself torn between her one and only friend and her devotion to God.
Desperate for affection, Alina flirts with suicide and her growing paranoia makes her suspicious of everyone in Voichita's life. Soon, her repeated fits of hysteria land her in the local hospital, but the anti-psychotic drugs provide only a temporary solution. When the doctors tell the priest that there is nothing further they can do to help, Alina is returned to the convent but the situation does not improve. The distraught girl does leave on her own to go back to her last foster home, but gives up all her possessions and returns to the monastery, unable to stay away from Voichita.
Ultimately, the priest is convinced that she is not just a sinner, but one possessed by the devil and must undergo an exorcism. Without her consent, Alina is tied to a cross with ropes and chains and her mouth gagged to prevent her screaming as the service is performed. Beyond the Hills is an intense and haunting film, and the performances of Flutur and Stratan, who shared the Best Actress award at Cannes, add depth and complexity to the film's moral universe. Under Mungui's direction, the film avoids pointing the finger. There are no good guys and bad guys and everyone involved thinks they are acting in Alina's best interests, but they are sadly myopic.
Regardless of their good intentions, each character is so caught up in the narrow scope of their vision that they cannot see beyond their immediate self-interest. What becomes lost is the ability to look beyond rituals and forms to find the substance - love, charity, and compassion. According to Mungui, the film "speaks about guilt but is more concerned with love and choices, with the things people do in the name of their beliefs, the difficulty of telling good from bad, understanding religion literally, indifference as an even greater sin than intolerance and freedom of will." When these factors are present, tragedy cannot be far away. -
dromasca26 December 2012Like with many good films as there are many possible readings of the film and I'm sure its perception and understanding is and will be different depending on the personal experience of the audience, their relationship to the concepts of faith and friendship that are addressed in the film, their knowing of the realities of Romania today. First of all I think this movie should be seen as a work of art, a reflection and an opinion on a piece of reality, there is no judgment or assertion in the film with one exception that I will mention later, no pretend to express an absolute truth about the whole of the reality and even about the small universe of his characters. The viewer is left right to decide or judge, to sympathize or be indignant. Everybody at his own risk.
In a way the subject of 'Beyond the hills' takes one of the central themes of '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days', the friendship between two female characters, two young women barely out of the teens, who must face a world of hazards. Unlike the movie that received the most important prize at Cannes a few years ago, here the heroines are girls much simpler as education, marked by fate from birth, being abandoned in an orphanage, where they become friends, and there are enough clues in the film that shows their relationship becomes more than just a friendship. Fate separates them for a while and when the film begins Alina (Cristina Fluture) returns from Germany to take her girlfriend Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) with her to work abroad.
The relationship between Alina and Voichita develops slowly before our eyes. Alina finds Voichita at peace with the world after in a small monastic community between hills, among sister nuns and under the guidance of the priest (Valeriu Andrii) whom affectionately she calls 'Daddy'. The ascetic life of nuns, the caring relationships with the village or small town nearby are described simply and honestly, they seem positive and beneficial in a world that changes to the unknown and not necessarily for the better. It is true that the primary focus is to materiality, to solutions that offer peace and refuge in ritual rather than a deep spirituality, but no other institutions presented in the film (hospitals, police) seem to be able to provide clearer answers or solutions problems faced by people. Despite negative criticism received by the film in Romania, I believe that the approach taken by the script towards the church is at least neutral, if not positive at least up to a point.
The friendship or more than friendship, love between two girls will slowly be evolving toward tragedy. Whilst for Alina the love for Voichita is an obsession, Voichita is trying to attract her friend towards the life she had chosen. Mungiu does not give any explanation in terms of the reasons or motivation of Voichita's faith and and also not about Alina's violent outbursts, often they are not shown explicitly, we know they happen through the eyes of other characters. Is this a case of possession, and then resort to exorcism might be motivated, at least in terms of a certain category of religious beliefs? Or maybe it's a mental illness in the family, perhaps hereditary, as suggested by the character of the brother (Ionut Ghinea)? I was taught to believe that diseases can be cured in hospitals or specialized medical institutions, the science sooner or later finds a remedy. None of this happens in the film, profane systems seem to be powerless when faced with Alina's case and appeal to the sacred, even in an extreme form seems justified in the logic of the story. Watershed and breaking is the decision that cancels free will. It is the only time when we feel that Mungiu has an attitude. Everyone is well intentioned when the decision is taken to proceed with exorcism, but the lack of authority to make a decision regarding the fate of a man pushes things a fatal slope. Here comes the extreme, even violent part of the movie, but again it is narrated in a detached manner, with attention to details, especially emotionally significant details. For a moment I felt however that Mungiu's neutrality mask seemed to have fallen.
I will not dare describe the many moments of beauty and truth in the film. Mungiu creates together with the operator a life image of the small monasteries that remain imprinted in memory, with the white of the snow righteous unable to purify or even cover horror. The truth will come to light sooner or later in terms of the secular society. Not in terms of spiritual, sacred world, the second half of reality to which the film tries to open a gate. We'll also see in the film many meals, Mungiu's film likes to put people around food, and it presents those by the filter of Christian iconography and lifestyle with amplified significance, but they are devoid of the spiritual dimension, this dimension that is missing in the film despite the presence of institutionalized church. As always for Mungiu and other representatives of his generation, the details are as important as the whole, the secondary characters are as rigorously chosen and each portrait is as living and complex as the lead ones. Acting is impeccable. The Romanian cinema is still on the top of the wave. -
mihaela-566-64820027 December 2012It is a sad story told in a fair way. You see the two characters desperately trying to save each other, but also desperately trying to keep themselves into the "safe bubble" they created around them: Voichita's bubble is the monastery, Alina's bubble is Voichita, the only human being that ever loved her.
It is the story of two girls who grew up in an orphanage (I felt a shiver trying to imagine it) and had few choices at the moment they became adults. The movie lefts many questions open. One of them, the hardest perhaps, is how was it possible that nobody (monastery, hospital, school, foster family, police, etc.) was able to help a girl, while everybody agreed on the fact that she needed help. -
TimMeade24 October 2013'Based on a true story' – a phrase that can cover so many bases - is the slow-burning and languorous Romanian film Beyond the Hills.
Set predominantly in a monastery in a bleak and poverty-stricken district, it is a complex and multi-layered film revolving around two young women, Alina and Voichita. Previously childhood friends then lovers, their lives intertwine once more when Alina returns from working in Germany in an attempt to once more enter into a relationship with Voichita who has since taken Holy Orders and is living the chaste and extremely frugal life of a nun. The rekindling of the relationship was always doomed and as Alina's mental health deteriorates with the realisation that she will not achieve her objective, she provokes a series of events culminating in the belief by some that she is possessed and needs cleansing.
A Romanian film about faith, despair and unrequited lesbian love in an impoverished monastery was never likely to be an action-packed, sensationalist blockbuster. It is long at 155 minutes and its pace tends to alternate between dead slow and stop. It's the sort of a film which will take over 5 minutes to show a nun leaving the kitchen to draw water from the well and return to the kitchen with no dialogue or plot advancement throughout that period. But it is a film that has the courage to take its time, confident that it can draw you into the lives of the people whose story it tells. And on the whole it succeeds.
There are no real villains or heroes in the film. It does not take the easy route to mock and blame religion for out-dated belief – when a nun believes she has been sent a sign from God and goes all peculiar, the Orthodox Priest in charge cuts down the hysteria curtly and tells her and the other nuns to move on. No, the people shown in this film, be they doctors, police or those of the cloth, are portrayed as well-meaning individuals all looking to do no harm even if, like all of us, they can be judgmental and self-righteous on occasion. Beyond the Hills is an unashamedly bleak and ultimately very sad film which gives no answers but merely records events leaving its audience to draw their own conclusions.
Cinematography was good, though the constant sound of the ever-blowing wind was sometimes crude and off-putting.
And there was an early failure of the sub-titles. When Alina first arrives at the monastery, the camera concentrates on a hand-written sign at its entrance. It's clearly of some import for it to be shown so, but the audience is not let in on its message. Post-film research ascertained it stated, words to the effect: This is the House of God. Forbidden to those of different religion. You must believe and not doubt. It would have explained much. -
lasttimeisaw11 July 2012A KVIFF viewing of Romanian auteur Cristian Mugiu's latest gripping modern exorcism tale which has garnered two wins in Cannes this year, a BEST SCREENPLAY award and the young pair Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur shared Best Actress honor, which staunchly vindicates Cristian's consistent excellence not only in his fine-tempo and well-pitched directing bent, but a robust script and ultra-overpowering cast as a whole superlative pack.
Like his breakthrough chef-d'oeuvre 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (2009, a 9/10), the film anew grapples with the contentious subject-matters (this time it is about religious belief) and assigns two young girls in the main roles. The film acquaints its viewers with a secluded locale, an austere monastery (with no electricity and utilizing well water for example) is in stark contrast to the contemporary modernity, then slowly unwinds a tug-of-war in the name of love between God and human, a hapless destiny falls upon 2 girls from the same orphanage, one has become a pious nun so far, yet another is an obstinate non-believer, who chooses God as her love competitor and defies any compromise.
There is an unremitting impulse of captivation throughout the entire film which successfully banishes the awareness of its 150-minutes length. One of Mungiu's trump card is his virtuoso camera deployment, which has again fixated on a well-organized angle, especially in the indoor scenes, all the inconsequential items have been placed into incessant expositions of still paintings.
A strong-arm tension has been outstandingly established among three main characters (the said two girls plus the priest), although a few well-worn plot twists-and-turns may not survive the hindsight, however the eventual repercussion is nothing if not astonishing.
Much accolades should be granted to the film about its no shade of grey amplification of managing the thorny issue, the clear-minded of eschewing any grandiosity with a telling coda, which can never be less appreciated among cinephiles. -
adipocea18 January 2013Well,I wanted desperately, not to like, to love this movie... All the premises were there, I couldn't wait for the film to be released... But, as the film was developing in front of my eyes, I was completely feeling less...No attachment to the girls, I didn't even care for one damn second about any of them, the film scratches everything that is supposed to carve upon, the director seems in a hurry to reach something that slips between his fingers...I felt no compassion for that girl, in some moments I was about to scream to her, get out of that place, girl, return to Germany, live your life and put ourselves out of the misery of watching this movie!And one more thing. The performances of both girls, cumulated, multiplied by 100, they never, ever, never ever, are any close to the magnificent performance of Emanuelle Riva in Amour... So , Nanni Moretti, I don't really know what came to your mind when you gave that award to these two, frustrating the beautiful Riva of that super-deserved award
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veronikastehr21 February 2014A complex story plot describing a tragic division of life paths of two female friends who found themselves either into grinding mill of bigotry in church structures or into that of a cold bureaucratic apparatus. This poetically told story leads us through meditative winter landscapes and dark interiors of the monastery where, besides obvious social issues, one can vaguely discern a disturbing relationship between the two friends consisting of perplexing resignation and self-destruction. The success of this work lies in the abundance of details which bring the audience into contemplation about human nature.
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cripastor10 February 2013Mungiu has managed in his films a perfect balance between portraying specific Romanian social-cultural issues and in the same time rendering them universal for the public abroad. He touches some of the Romanian taboos like the Orthodox church and its often brainwash practises, the efficiency of God-like doctors or the dark side of some of the do-gooders in social aid and work. The irony is that while all the characters in the film proclaim often and loud that they are sympathetic towards the orphan girl they are also the authors of her greatest abuses , from financial rip off to medical neglect or physical restraint .The system itself is rejecting the poorest and most vulnerable young people as is pointed out throughout the film by the recurrent motif of 'we have nowhere to go' leaving them in the hands of an often merciless world .In the very best of tradition of the superstitious Christian Romanian culture the real problems are avoided as they will throw a negative light back on everyone so it is easiest to blame all on evil spirits .The last scene gives a great insight into an emotionally devoid society , when such individual drama will become another media circus headline.
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suvopyne4913 November 2012Alina and Voichita had grown up together in an orphanage. They had found solace and comfort in each other's presence before both of them took different paths in their life. The film opens with Alina returning to home with the hope of reuniting with her childhood friend and starting a new life only to find Voichita leading a completely new life in a monastery with nothing but God at heart.
What follows is one riveting on-screen journey that dwells on faith, love, theism, atheism and over all, human emotions that goes unfathomably deep. Director Cristian Mungiu's remarkable work to depict the tumults of emotions of both the lead characters would be etched on the mind of audiences. The story largely revolves around how Voichita trying to get Alina a new life like hers in the monastery and Alina repeatedly and determinedly trying to undermine the value of god to get Voichita to love her with horrific consequences for her and the people residing at the monastery.
Many things are left to be inferred and left to individual interpretations, like it should be. The complicated relation between the lead characters is one of them. The love between them was still intact but faith divided them. The film also depicts the repercussions of faith and religion at its extreme. The screenplay of the film is excellent as it stresses to address the daily routine lifestyle at the monastery and how unbridled faith affects the rationale and morality of the people living there. Subject like this needed to be handled expertly and boy it was. So many subtle sub-plots like Alina's brother's pangs, the relationship between the priest of the monastery and the nuns are only examples of the palette of emotions that were drawn on screen.
It's largely a women-centric film. So, it asks a lot from the performances of the two ladies, portraying central characters. Cristina Flutur (Alina) and Cosmina Stratan (Voichita) – both of them gave stellar performances that helped the film to consolidate the theme. The support cast, mostly comprised of female characters, was deft in their performances too. The only significant male character, 'The priest', played by the dependable Valeriu Andriutu, perhaps acted as the anchor of all the activities between all the female characters.
Another aspect that demands exceptional praises is the cinematography. The remote country sides of Romania looked magnificent on screen. Sometimes, I wondered whether it was possible to pause and stare at those beautiful shots. Some of the intense scenes in the films were that intense because the way it was shown. Overall, it is a film that would leave its viewers, atheists and theists alike, in a profound state of preoccupation.
P.S. I have noticed that sometimes the intensity of a film gets magnified when they use no background score at all. -
3xHCCH20 January 2013I had only watched one other Romanian film before, and that was the abortion nightmare, "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days," which was as stark and gritty as could be. Now this one, entitled "Beyond the Hills," also came with good recommendations. I was surprised to learn after watching that these two films were done by the same director, Cristian Mungiu.
"Beyond the Hills" is a strange film set in rural Romania, in the strict confines of an Orthodox monastery. It was about a nun Volchita and her old friend (maybe even her lover?) from the orphanage, Alina. Alina came over to Volchita's monastery for a visit, but her arrival turns their serene monastic existence into extreme turmoil. What is wrong with Alina? Is she epileptic? Is she psychotic? Is she possessed?
This movie is not really about Alina's nebulous condition rather than about the tense atmosphere director Cristian Mungiu creates for us the audience to immerse in. This film may seem to be Mungiu's exposition against the Orthodox church and its strict antiquated ways. However, the priest and the nuns were shown to be genuinely concerned about Alina despite her unpredictable disruptive ways.
This film has a thought-provoking concluding scene that speaks volumes about what the whole movie was about despite its simplicity. Overall, this movie was interesting as a sociological study, but like Mungiu's controversial first film, this is not for everybody. -
swavekzykus11 April 2015Save yourself 2 hrs of life and go to bed early if you have nothing else to watch.
Seriously.
Characters are unrealistic, not much of a story, the biggest puzzle for me is how it got the main prize in Cannes..... Acting is poor, there is no background to understand what brings and keeps the women in the monastery, why blind obedience and suppressed feelings.
There is no clues to what happened in the past between the two,main characters, and it is hard to believe that such different characters could have ever had much in common. Poor 'story' - as far as I am concerned, there is no story. -
Red-12524 August 2013The Romanian film Dupa Dealuri (2012) was shown in the U.S. with the title "Beyond the Hills." The movie was written and directed by Cristian Mungiu.
A better name for this film would have been "Beyond the City," because the movie takes place in a Romanian convent where conditions are basically medieval--no electricity, no running water, no central heating. Ironically, the convent overlooks a modern city. When anyone from the convent visits the city, we are jarred into remembering that the action is happening today, rather than 500 years ago. A group of nuns live in the convent, which is directed by an Orthodox priest and his wife, who is the mother superior.
Two young women grew up together in an orphanage, and then separated. One of the friends, (Volchita, played by Cosmina Stratan) has joined the convent. The other (Alina, played by Cristina Flutur) has gotten work in Germany. When Alina returns to visit Cosmina at the convent, the movie appears destined to be about a liberated woman freeing her more traditional friend from the repressive religious, patriarchal, atmosphere of the convent. That's not the direction the film takes.
We learn that Alina is desperate to be with Cosmina. She wants Cosmina to leave the convent and join her in Germany. It's Alina who is troubled. Cosmina is happy at the convent, and truly believes that Alina belongs there as well.
I assumed that the convent would be a place of repression and degradation, but that isn't the case. The life is hard, but the nuns are not mistreated, and they don't appear to have been brainwashed into accepting the strict rules set down by the priest (played by Valeriu Andriuta).
The interactions between the outsider--Alina--with Cosmina and the nuns and priest take turns and twists that I wouldn't have predicted. It's a hard, cold life at the convent, and this is a hard, cold portrayal of that life, and what happens when that life is disturbed.
Beyond the Hills is a grim, but fascinating, movie about good intentions meeting harsh reality. The acting and cinematography are superb. It's definitely worth seeking out and viewing.
We saw this film at the excellent Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House in Rochester. It will work well on DVD. Beyond the Hills was submitted as the Romanian entry in the 2013 Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category. -
sriram_m25 January 2016This film raises many questions about the course of life, the way it is, yet it won't give any answers. It won't give any conclusions. In the middle, in the deep frustration of experiencing futility of life, it leaves us alone. Makes us suffer and question the meaning of life.
How the threads of wisdom and ignorance were interwove in the fabric of life, as inseparable! Is there an eye to distinguish the ignorance and can lead us to salvation? A salvation from our own ignorance, misery we created ourselves, and the misery given by life. As long as there is ignorance, there will be darkness. There can be no light in life.
It is one of the greatest classics of our time. Great piece of art. Director Cristian Mungiu's way of portraying a story is incomparable and it is in the proportion of great masters works. -
allyatherton11 December 2015A girl visits a convent to try and bring her friend home.
Starring Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur.
Written by Cristian Mungiu. Inspired by the Non Fiction Novels of Tatiana Niculescu Bran.
Directed by Cristian Mungiu.
This is a dark and disturbing movie that would have been far better if it wasn't so slow paced.
It moves at a snails pace but maybe that's what Cristian Mungiu intended, after all I'm guessing that's how things flow in a convent. The story isn't bad and as far as I could tell ( this was a Romanian movie with English subtitles) the acting was okay without being incredible.
I liked the outside location cinematography but the indoor stuff looked a bit wobbly. This is an arty film and usually I like anything like this but for me this was too slow and bordering on boring. For me it lacked something but I'm not sure what. Maybe the relationship between the two main characters could have been explored more to make this more watchable? We only get a few suggestions of a love affair in the past between them both and so perhaps that's what this movie needed.
It does make you think. It's pretty much an anti religious movie and that's the message that came across clearly at the end.
7/10 -
JvH4829 October 2012I saw this film at the Ghent filmfestival 2012. What I have read beforehand promised some insight in a world that has the habit of remaining invisible for us laymen. Monasteries are closed communities by definition, usually living behind uninviting walls, and we can only speculate what they do all day long. The only thing we know is that they work and pray many many hours per day. But we'll never get a grip on what is in their minds, and what their purpose in life is. I once had several uncles and aunts in a monastery, and they never succeeded in clarifying what they did and what was on their mind all day long. It was and still remains a different world for me.
The relative long running time (2.5 hours) of this film is consistent with the way of life in a monastery. My only fear is that it may scare away modern viewers. Still, I'm surprised for myself that it did not seem that long, while something interesting happened all the time. Nevertheless, adaptation to modern times could be worth the effort by editing some scenes away. I admit that it is easier said than done: without hurting the product as a whole, I cannot point to specific scenes as logical candidates for removal.
It is difficult for us laymen to understand how people in a monastery live, what their purpose is in life, and how they pass their days. The initial supper scene after arriving in the monastery and meeting the whole population, does not help very much. Particularly the all-knowing priest who talks in cliché's and has an answer for everything, confirms our worst assumptions. Luckily, this first impression is not all there is to it. We see later on that none of them thinks and talks in black and white. Even said priest demonstrates further-on in the story that he can think and act more thoughtfully when the need arises.
The plot seems simplistic. It is about two young women. One of them (Voichita) says to have found "God in my heart". She lives in the monastery, and has no plans to leave. The other one (Alina) is granted an extended stay in the monastery. They know each other from an orphanage where they grew up together. Alina has a hidden agenda to get Voichita out of there, in order to travel abroad together. Having not attended a church service for many years, she has to catch up a lot while she stays in the monastery. For the short term, she complies with the house rules and even prepares to go to confession. In the company of several sisters, they walk through the "Book of 464 sins", the first 20 of which we see reading aloud while Alina is assumed to take notes. I'm not sure the scene was intended to be amusing, but for me it worked out that way. I could not help wondering whether these first 20 sins not all applied to me. And what about the remaining 444 sins, where they worse or mere variations on the same theme??
The two women do not come closer, both defending their own purpose in life. Even worse, Alina violates several house rules, a few unknowingly but most out of mere stubbornness. Some of the time she acts up violently, and is even sent to hospital when she gets out of control. The hospital finds nothing wrong that they can cure there, and sends her back to the monastery. The priest suspects the devil residing in her, and proposes a rite of exorcism.
I was very positively surprised that the priest and colleague sisters responded to her fierce behavior in a much more thoughtful and loving manner than I had expected from the black/white thinking as displayed initially at the welcoming supper. Of course, you need to be a strong believer, as well as compliant to a high degree, to blend in with daily life in a monastery. But it does obviously not mean that all humanity is wiped out. We see no mindless robots but humans of flesh and blood.
We also observe several times that the monastery is not a closed community in the literal sense of the word. There are several contacts with people in the village, and Voichita and Alina are even allowed to travel to Alina's former foster home to collect her belongings. When she finds out that the wages she earned there previously, were spent on her recent hospitalization, she reacts furiously and insults everyone to such an extent that she outstayed her welcome there. Having no other place to live, her only option is to return to the monastery. She promises to behave, and even prays for many days in a row as a penitence for her sins. Aforementioned rite of exorcism is set in motion. As could be expected, the end result is not as planned (no further details, to prevent spoilers).
All in all, I had no problems with staying awake during the relatively long running time of 2.5 hours. We got the opportunity to visit a more or less closed community, to learn the wrongness of the picture we have formed in our minds about life in a monastery, and to obtain a better and more positive idea about the people that live in such a community. Apart from that, the acting was spot on and very believable. I had every reason to give a maximum score for the audience award when leaving the theater. -
laceciliala26 February 2013"Dealuri Dupa", aka "Beyond the Hills" is a Romanian movie of 2012. The director, Cristian Mungiu, offers two perspectives in this film. The first, found in the relationship of the two girls, whose lives have taken very different paths, despite the unique connection, which was formed between them during the orphanage years. The differences are so big that they cause serious tensions and conflicts. This bipolar environment, brings us to the second approach, which we find in the Romanian environment, in the hospital, in the streets of the city, and so on. This is a bipolar and contradictory reality. For me, the most interesting subject is the battle between religion and science, good and evil, what is considered right and wrong.
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mk_csaby11 November 2012Saw this movie today at the Arras International Film Festival. I first have to say that I think myself as fortunate to have been able to understand the dialog in the original language. When I went to see the movie, I didn't really now what to expect, I only briefly read bits and pieces from the synopsis.
In my opinion the movie is a good portrayal of current Romanian society. Maybe people living in urbanized areas of the country are not fully aware of what is still happening in other areas, maybe poorer, maybe less exposed to western influences and at the same time much more conservative in terms of religion and customs. I think that the movie also gives a pretty good glimpse of what lack of proper education could lead to, it also touches somewhat the problem of orphanages in Romania and lack of continuity in care-taking of those youngsters who reach adulthood and cannot reside in the aforementioned institutions anymore but have to find a way to live their lives without any help whatsoever. There are more levels to this movie than just the unfortunate outcome of lesbianism in modern Romanian society. This movie is definitely not for those who blindly allow themselves to be brainwashed by the Church.
The mentality of the common people, of the mere citizen who is driven into lying and cheating in order to survive in a world that doesn't wait for those who cannot keep up with it is accurately portrayed in this movie. So in terms of portrayal, Beyond the hills is quite realistic, the characters are realistic, credible. The imagery and the setting greatly contribute to being able to see this world as if we were participants to the events. There is a great variety of shooting angles and techniques which are adapted to the situations in which they are used. Also great use of silence.
In conclusion, if you want a glimpse of what the issues of modern Romanian society represent, especially in the rural world, then this is definitely a movie to watch. It portrays it well and it tries to see it from more than just one point of view, which gives it credibility. -
Likes_Ninjas908 August 2013In 2005 a Romanian nun was bound and gagged and tied to a makeshift cross. She was dehydrated, starved and suffocated for three days until she died. The people in the Romanian village of Tanacu who had imprisoned and murdered twenty-three year old Irina Maricica Cornici were a monk and four other nuns belonging to the Orthodox Church. They had been attempting to perform an exorcism on Irina because they believed that she had been possessed by the devil. She was previously diagnosed by a hospital as suffering from schizophrenia. Two years later, the priest was sentenced to fourteen years in prison.
Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) has written a friendship of two girls around these events, while still treating the case with accuracy and tact. He has stated that he wanted to make a film about the passivity of the world and to encourage people to have an opinion, rather than merely accepting daily habits as inconsequential. He has also said that he didn't want the film to be made of goodies and baddies. The natural performances from several first time actors sidestep the trap of simplicity. The film is a critique of the dangers of segregated communities. It is not an anti-religious film but one that displays the incompatibility of the values of the inner and outside world. Where do we stand once we realise both are as oppressive and doomed as each other?
In their first feature roles Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan play Alina and Voichita, two girls who used to live in an orphanage but were separated. Alina returns from Germany to visit Voichita who is now living in a convent as a nun. They used to belong to each other but Voichita declares that she Alina in a different way now and that her heart is strictly with God. The convent they are staying in has no electricity and supposedly no regard for money either. It relies on manual labour from the other nuns and also the head priest (Valeriu Andriuta). The regime is strict because the priest has little patience for any scandals and the rules are dogmatic. Chaos erupts when the other girls claim that Alina tried to hurt herself and began attacking people and she has to be taken to hospital.
Mungiu has a staggering eye for detail and great patience for visualising spatiality. Using clear hand-held cameras, many scenes are filmed in long, single takes and the duration of the shots shows the containment of the spatiality of the nuns' lives and the remoteness of the community. The effect of static formalism is that it infers their lack of consciousness about the outside world and modern sensibilities and values. Similarly, a wide angle shot from the top of the hill expresses the physical and mental distance between the Church and the rest of the society. Subtle contrasts in costumes, including the black robes of the nuns juxtaposed again Alina's Rebook tracksuit top further visualise the conflict of the two worlds and their values.
Personalising the notion of the spiritual pitched against the modern world are the relationships of the girls. Alina and Voichita's conversations are a binary forged between two contrasting ideas of love: those who believe in the tangible and physical meaning and spiritual satisfaction through prayer and dedication only to God. Voichita confesses her faith to Alina: "I've got someone else in my soul now". Both performances are pitched with a quiet naturalism that prevents their immensely convincing work from straying into caricatures. Voichita and the priest aren't portrayed as villains but as people who are unfamiliar with the outside world and unshakable in their faith because this is how they've been conditioned and how they discipline themselves.
One final image in the film fascinates but also reveals some limitations. It is the sight from the police car of a modern world that is loud, unruly and disrespecting of the law. How would some of these characters respond in the outside world? Is there any hope that they will adapt to the modern world when they are taken to gaol and have to come to terms with the boundaries of modern society? By working strictly in the frame of the real events, thorough character development isn't on Mungiu's mind. He ends the film with a brilliantly provocative note but one that is also verging closely on unsalvageable nihilism for humanity. -
Reno-Rangan14 March 2016This is my second Romanian movie in 3 weeks to review in WCA. And both of them were the Oscars sent movie that never made into the final stage. My Romanian movie count is not exceeded to double digit, but I think now I started to like them and hoping to watch many more in the days to come. This movie was less expected by me, well, I was delaying it for some times, eventually finished it with highly satisfied.
From the director of the Golden Globe Nominee movie '4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days' brings the story of two young women who were once abused when in orphanage that led them to bond closely before going their separate ways after leaving the place. One of them returns from working in Germany to win another's heart back who has now found a place in a convent. How the things work out between them, with their new life and the past attachment that affect not only them but entire convent.
If 'Ida' made into the Oscars, I don't know why this one failed to make. Both of them were kind of similar, about the characters who were caught between the faith and emotion. One's true commitment to the faith is tested with the unexpected encounter with the desires. Is the religion too innocence in the modern world? While the human civilisation shifting its phase to the next stage, the 2000 years old belief is struggling to pull together. In that platform this movie was narrated a wonderful story.
"Continuity is essential in our spiritual realm. You can't stop for a break when you feel like it."
The tale was quite clearly displayed when one has to choose between two, even knowing what the reality is, but fixed with their devoted mind on one. Maybe like coming from the orphanage, knowing all the struggles about life, this is the way they pledged to help the society. In the perspective of hardcore believers, the movie might be a little hurtful, but nothing serious offensive. It was just a movie, and sometimes it was a dark comedy that was not intended, but anyway I had a few good laughs.
I am really happy for the movie, I won't consider it an outcry about religious cruelty. Unlike hospitals that legally runs performances, while a monastery like this raises a few questions within its practice that performed against someone's will. After all it was inspired by the real even that took place in the 2005 and mostly factual than fiction.
This was set in the present time, but most of the movie shot in a convent just outskirt of a city, so gives the feel of the 60s, 70s or earlier to that. Because their lifestyle that disconnects from the rest of the world, including their financial struggle. An ideal location for the story and its title. Shot in two different seasons similar to change in the phase and pace of the tale to the intensified conclusion. I loved everyone's performance. Definitely it is not in the line of 'Spotlight', but you can't ignore where the movie is pointing out on what went wrong. In my opinion, it is a must see and surely suggest it for all, well, mostly adults for its sensitiveness.
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Vincentiu29 October 2012only a story about love levels. or innocence as fundamental guilt. a story about a girlfriend,God,the other person. an exercise, nice but not really profound, to understand and present heart of things.space of a deus otiosus. Tanacu case is only seed for mirror of Mungiu art. the impressive performance of two actress is real touching. the story - warm, delicate, show of nuances is result of real good work. but , in many scenes, the film has not soul. it is only demonstration of a theory. only game of few ingredients for make a perfect movie for great cinema festivals. the story of monastery is very far from imagines of movie. the persuasion of director is out of real facts circle. sure, it is no new fact. but the final taste is bitter not only as result of message but for easy aesthetic tricks of a director for who Orthodoxy is just a smoke silhouette.
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violentwavesofemotion10 March 2013"Beyond The Hills" is without a doubt compelling. Stretching beyond subject matters themselves, the film explores beautifully the thin layers among human relationships, especially when these relationships work primarily under strict environmental patterns. I did find certain scenes to be unnecessary and slightly hoped for better dialog but the outcome was still beautiful. I think it is a film which holds full potential to make you undergo many sentimental transgressions; you will find yourself feeling uneasy due to the very realistic representation of the events, you will shiver during the intimate moments and you will, to say the least, gasp during the final act. The two protagonists are giving exquisite performances; they both have this tremendous quality of emotionally transfixing you right at heart through their very presence and small individual movements. Cinematography is breathtaking; certain scenes were pretty darkish but mostly natural light works wonders. Recommended, quite obviously.
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colarusso-128 June 2013This is a very slow film, always repetitive,the story turn back all the time. I know that Romania is a poor land, and all countries with poverty and ignorance has place to hysterical religions. But I can't believe that a young that lived in Germany could be so weak in middle of a priest and a lot of subdued nuns. The worst thing is the end. Maybe the message is: a so stupid story deserve no appropriate end. The two principal actresses are convincing but the nuns are terrible, and the priest has no force, no conviction. The long moments with a frozen image are terrible. The film is very long, and we feel that this film is longer than his duration. Opera's resume: a bad film.
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Mario6417 February 2017Of all the many, many foreign language films I have seen, only a sparse handful are from Romania, but every one of them has impressed me with their rich detail, and their sensibilities to the lives of people in their country. Beyond the Hills, directed by Cristian Mungiu (who also did the masterful 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) continues in that pattern. It tells the story of two young women, longtime friends who grew up together in an orphanage. Their lives have taken very different paths while they've been apart. One, Voichita, played by Cosmina Stratan, has found a calling as a nun in a Romanian convent; the other, Alina, played by Cristina Flutur, has lived in Germany for work, and once they reunite there's a tension from the start. The person that each has become, conflict with the relations they used to have to each other—relations of a deeper sort at least one of them wants to rekindle once more.
While both young ladies staying at the convent, Alina is impatient with her friend's Orthodox piousness, and angry with the other nuns and the head priest there, and she acts outs erratically and at times violently. Voichita meanwhile tries to make Alina find her way in God. Both these performances, of almost polar-opposite tones, come in vivid believability. Flutur's wildness is extraordinary to see, but Stratan's emotive restraint is nearly as impressive. The pace of the story builds gradually but never uninterestingly, rich with the Romanian setting and character interactions, making scenes of even apparent mundane tasks compelling (a scene of Voichita getting her friend a document reminded me a lot of a scene in Mungiu's, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, where one the main character tries to register a hotel room for her friend to get an abortion in). It's has a gritty realism that doesn't typically shock (though there is at least one big shock) as much as it gets under the viewer's skin.
Beyond the Hills is not an easy film to watch, particularly in the turn it takes towards the end. I won't say much about it other than it concerns very much how the push and pull conflict of the two protagonists comes to ahead in a sequence of ignorant decisions based on superstition (in addition to the lack of interest of people outside the convent). At the end, there's a shot of somebody's face that will not be easily forgotten. This is a film which rewards patience and appreciation of detail, and though at nearly two and a half hours it is not a slog at all if you let it draw you in. It's not quite at the level of 4 Month, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, but, thanks in large part to the two strong leads and the director's building of their story, it comes quite close.