Abortion has been a controversial and highly sensitive
theme because the Catholic Church has turned it into a matter of principles:
the woman cannot decide on it, she can never have that power. It disguises
itself as a life defense, but behind that rhetoric what is at stake is this:
the fear that any woman takes a significant decision without the permission of
men.
For the absolute refusal of the church, the battle for
legalization has been a slow process in the world; while this has involved and
still involves the suffering and death of millions of women who are forced to
practice unsafe clandestine abortions, at serious risks for their health.
The laws have given in to the extent that abortion has
crossed the moral and philosophical discussion and has become a serious and
urgent public health problem to be solved one way or another: it makes no sense
to remain as a leading cause of maternity death. Defending life at the expenses
of another life is a complicated argument to invoke. Nor has much justification
the fact of bringing to life unwanted children with all its serious
implications.
This preamble is only to state that it is not easy
making a film about abortion and get ahead as it does the Romanian film “4
Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” by Cristian Mungiu, a young director, who has won
some major awards: Golden Palm in Cannes 2007 and award for best film of the
year of European Cinema.
How to circumvent this difficult obstacle? Privileging
the facts and emotions over ideas, stating a story that is not limited only to
abortion. Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) are two Romanian
girls in a provincial town.
We are in 1987, during the dictatorship of Ceausescu,
which seemed to last forever. They talk in their humble student room and the
viewer does not know about what. Something happened, something important, you
got the feeling that something will happen. Little by little we will get to
know: Gabita is pregnant and needs an abortion, but abortion is illegal,
penalized with many years in prison; it is expensive, and the doctor is not
going to risk it for a little reward; you have to get a safe place; one must
say many lies.
"Why did this happen to me?" Says Gabita at
some point. However, there is no place for these questions or for moral
dilemmas: we must act quickly; time passes, paid or not paid; it' s either done
or not done.
And something really important comes up: do you have a
true friend willing to do everything for you? These and how the characters
respond is what we will see. A scene from their lives, a moment that will mark
them both forever. An intense day and night, without background music.
Appreciate and not judge, suffer with them, suggests
the director. Those girls are alone. It's so sad, so opaque the society in
which they live in. Otilia has a boyfriend who loves her, who invited her to
the house of his family for a birthday party; but this makes it worse,
increasing her feeling of strangeness. A man can understand what is happening?
The art, of course, contains ideas, leads to a
reflection and so does this movie. But it does not handle a thesis, it does not
try to impose a point of view by force. It only invites us to live an
experience and to place ourselves in the place of others.
Director:
Cristian Mungiu
Writers:
Cristian Mungiu, Razvan Radulescu (script consultant)
Stars:
Anamaria Marinca, Vlad Ivanov and Laura Vasiliu
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