Marius_Stan Set in 1835 Wallachia (now southern Romania), approximately half-way in time between Miguel de Cervantes' masterpiece and present day, the film follows Constandin, a bounty hunter, and his son Ionita, as they chase a runaway gypsy slave. And yes, there is a Dulcinea del Toboso, maybe less adored and more punched in the face, and yes, they do stop at the inn, and yes, the combination of Romanian proverbs and down to earth conversations is reminiscent of the Don Quixote-Sancho Panza exchanges. The father and son journey is recreated from historical, literary and musical sources by the Director Radu Jude with creativity, intelligence and obvious sympathy for that part of the world. Beautifully shot from a necessary distance by Marius Panduru in black and white, the movie smoothly fades in and out of images, thoughts, prejudices and superstitions characteristic of a society marked by poverty, corruption, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and religious intolerance. Things of the past, one might say, things of the past. Teodor Corban gives Constandin determination, humor and a certain kindness, mainly directed toward Ionita (a well-cast Mihai Comanoiu) and rarely toward the gypsy slave Carfin (Toma Cuzin, in a convincing role). Mihale Sirbu and her tormented character Sultana skillfully navigate the dangerous waters of passion and fear, especially in the menacing presence of boyar Iordache (Alexandru Dabija). In a deceptively easy role, Alexandru Bindea portrays a Priest who summarizes the mentalities of the time.So, is "Aferim!" a masterpiece? Unfortunately, although it comes so close, is not. Shot in only 23 days (according to an interview given by Radu Jude) the movie appears to be assembled in a hurry. The verbal and physical violence is overwhelming. After seeing the movie, go home and hide all scissors! Radu Jude decided that cruelty is the legacy of that era and should also be the mark of his movie. He placed the most violent scene at the very end to shock the audiences and festival juries, with vastly different results. Should that scene had been placed earlier, the mark of the movie could have been the donquixotesque father and son horseback trip across Wallachia in search of the meaning of life. Too bad that instead of a masterpiece we got a master and a piece.

Red-125 Aferim! (2015) is a Romanian movie written and directed by Radu Jude.Aferim! is a truly unique film. According to the introduction (by Yuriy Reznik), the Roma (called Crows by the Romanians) were slaves in Romania for centuries. (Slavery of the Roma was not outlawed until 1856.) This historical fact has been forgotten, presumably because it was actively suppressed. In fact, Aferim! is the first and only modern movie to show us Roma slavery. The movie is extraordinarily complex, but the plot is basic. A Roma slave named named Carfin Pandolean (Toma Cuzin) has escaped. Constable Costandin (played by Teodor Corban) has been sent to find the slave and bring him back to the local nobleman. The constable takes his son, Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu) along with him as his assistant.What follows is a film of immense beauty (at times), with moments of fascinating folkloric tradition, and moments of extraordinary brutality.In their odyssey, father and son meet many strange characters. I have no way of knowing whether director Jude is accurately showing us what Romania was like in 1835. However, the movie has the feel of reality about it.Constable Costandin is basically a decent human being. However, he has a job to do, and he's going to do it. He knows that, in this case, the job is an extremely dirty one. He worries about it, but he does it anyway.Constandin is not an educated man, but he has an endless fund of folk wisdom, which he dispenses whenever it's needed. At one point he says something like, "We have the life we have, not the life we might want." That's true of almost everyone in the movie.The wild scenery of Romania is strikingly photographed at first. Each frame looks as if it could be made into a still photograph that would compare with a photograph by Ansel Adams. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed to me that the cinematography got rougher and harsher as the movie progressed.We saw this film as part of the Rochester Premieres series at the excellent Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. It won't work as well on the small screen, but if that's your only option, take it. This is a must-see film for anyone interested in modern European cinema. Warning: the action is set in Romania in the 1830's. It's a harsh, violent society. Be prepared for some horrible events.

crownofsprats Some displays of racism can be so lurid and outlandish that they actually short-circuit the usual feelings of outrage one ought to have when witnessing such things. (The 1975 film Mandingo immediately comes to mind.) It's not hard to believe people thought and felt this way back in the day, but it's hard to relate to them as actual human beings and not just demented caricatures of humanity's ugly collective past. Thus, it's much harder to actually feel anger towards them.Aferim! does a fine job of offering you both sides of the coin - the absurdity and the outrage - in one masterful cinematic package. The modern viewer can observe a place as alien as 19th century Wallachia with clinical detachment, smirking as these ignorant bumpkins - a slave-catcher and his teenage son (along with a priest who briefly tags along) - ride across the bucolic countryside and discuss gypsies (and Jews) in the most over-the-top, Borat-esque way imaginable. But the sentiments expressed and their social consequences are of course very real (in fact, some of the dialogue was taken from "historical record"). After the runaway is captured and his interactions with the father-son duo imbue all three with relate-able human qualities, the underlying dynamic of the film is driven home in the brutal, visceral finale - and the floodgates of outrage and sadness are bludgeoned open, leaving the weight of all you've just witnessed to simmer in your soul for days to come.

dromasca What critics and audiences call 'the Romanian New Wave' is not that new any longer. Already in its teens it has focused on the present times, and the recent past of Romania - the last decade of the Communist era and the 'transition' period the country went through after the fall of the Communism. By doing so it neglected a tradition built into the history of the Romanian cinema - the historic movies. The first grand Romanian movie made more than a century ago was already a historic film, bringing back to screen the War of Independence of Romania in 1877 several decades after the event. The genre was taken over and polluted in the Communist period by many films which not only brought on screen heroic episodes and heroes of the Romanian history but also distorted it on the lines of the National-Communist propaganda of the regime. This may be the reason Romanian directors, producers, and audiences as well avoided the genre for a while. It is only in the last few years that historical themes came back to screens in more significant movies - the war period and the Holocaust first. Now 'Aferim!' by Radu Jude goes further back in the past, to the first half of the 19th century. His film (blessed with an important prize at the Berlin Festival early this year) however has also strong and explicit implications in the realities of today's Romania as well.Folks who know the history of Romanian cinema and remember some of the films made decades back will recognize elements of atmosphere and quotes. The 'Eastern' genre which took the structure of the classical American Westerns bringing on screen local characters or even changing the landscape to the fields, forests and mountains of the Romanian countries was popular in the 70s with the 'Haidouk' series but also in the works of Dan Pita (the 'Ardelenii' series). The inspired black and white cinematography credited to Marius Panduru and the very conventional generic that opens the film brought in mind the even older 'Tudor' by Lucian Bratu made in 1962 which dealt with events that took place 14 years before the year 1835 when 'Aferim!' is situated. The violently naturalistic nature of some of the scenes has also its roots in the Romanian literature (Liviu Rebreanu's novels) which were also brought to screen.Yet, this film aims more. The story of the local sheriff (let us use this name for the sake of the international audience) and of his son searching for a fugitive gypsy in the forest and swamps of Wallachia is not just a road movie or an initiation story from the perspective of the young lad destined to inherit the profession of his father. It is a deep and cruel reflection of the prevailing attitude not only of the ruling class but of the whole or great majority of the population of Romania towards other nationalities. The story and the characters come in a frontal manner against deeply rooted stereotypes like the welcoming attitude of Romanians towards strangers or the positive role of the Orthodox church in the moral fiber and education of the masses. It is actually a priest who speaks on screen a tirade full of prejudice against all categories of strangers living or getting in contact with the Romanian at that time - Gypsies of course, but also Jews, Turks, Russians, etc. Folks less familiar with the history of Romania should know that by 1835 Romania was still broken into smaller countries under Turkish, Austrian and Russian rulers - so what is seen on screen has a historical perspective. It is however the relation with the present that comes in mind immediately for those who know history and present. Romania as other East European countries have a big social and ethnic problem with the lack of integration of part of their Roma (gypsy) minorities. The roots of this situation lay to a great extent to the slavery practiced on this minority until mid 19th century. Slavery was abolished (in 1855-1856) but prejudices stay.The merit of Radu Jude is to avoid any excuse or sweetening of the historical facts, while telling a coherent story and creating characters who are not only credible but also memorable. He carefully builds the atmosphere, habits, language of the time in a well documented manner. He is helped by a fine team of actors - Teodor Corban and Mihai Comanoiu as the father and son, Toma Cuzin as the fugitive (would have deserved maybe more screen time to give more complexity to his character), and Alexandru Dabija as the cruel but credible landlord. Two of the best actors of Romania from the older generation Victor Rebengiuc and Luminita Gheorghiu appear in short roles, which shows that even important artists were interested to be part of this cinematographic experience. I feel that 'Aferim!' is a film that was much talked about since its release, and will be even more talked about in the future.