Beyond the Hills (***)

This drama comes from Cristian Mungiu, the Romanian who made the deservedly acclaimed 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. That film tackled the subject of illegal abortion. This one is “inspired by” nonfiction books about an incident at an Orthodox monastery. The two main characters are two young women who grew up in the same orphanage but have not seen each other for some time. Meanwhile, one, Alina (Cristina Flutur), has worked abroad, and the other, Voichita (Cosmina Stratan), has joined a strict religious order led by a bearded priest and lives an ascetic lifestyle.
 
For a time, I expected Voichita to see this patriarchal set-up for what it is and rebel. But she appears content, whereas Alina appears unhappy and needy. She hopes to resume the once-close friendship — how close is merely implied— and has little sympathy for the religious order. Neither did I, but I appreciated that Mungiu takes what appears to be a neutral approach. It may be too much to say most people will truly understand the nuns’ decision to live as they do, but the filmmaker himself does not appear to impose a strong viewpoint (though the ending, based on an actual incident, leaves less room for interpretation).

Mungiu builds his stories from the accumulation of detail, taking an almost documentary-like approach. These are fixed characters, and we see their inner lives only in watching their behavior. Only Alina, a clearly troubled young woman, exhibits a volatility, but even she does not change much in the course of the story. The tension does not hinge on revelations of secrets, but on the inexorable collision of religious and secular world views. This is a clash of civilizations writ small; slowly, it builds toward inevitable conflict. But…slowly. I admired the realism (there is no musical score) and the precision of the filmmaking while feeling impatient for the story to get where it’s going. I suspect the latter feeling will predominate in most viewers.

IMDb link

viewed 10/23/12 7:00 pm at Ritz East  [Philadelphia Film Festival screening] and reviewed 10/31/12–3/28/13