Orient
Beyond the Hills is a dilemma between faith and free will
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Courtesy
Beyond the Hills, the newest film by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu and marks the return of Mungiu, five years after his internationally celebrated 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days. His harrowing but starkly beautiful new film is set in an isolated Orthodox convent in Romania where Alina (Cristina Flutur) has been reunited with her childhood friend Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) after spending several years in Germany. Alina wants to leave and go to back Germany, and wants Voichita, a novice nun, to go with her. But Voichita has found refuge in faith and a family in the nuns and their priest (Valeriu Andriuta) and refuses. When Alina challenges the priest in an attempt to win back Voichita’s affection, she is suspected of being possessed. Mungiu based his gripping drama on a case of alleged demonic possession that occurred in a Romanian monastery in 2005.
This film makes a definitive break in terms of subject matter and Church with a couple of young women. Even is long, tough to watch some close captions dull and repetitive in some dialogues. This one makes believable portrait of dogma at odds with personal liberty in a society still emerging from the shadows and the rough weather which remarks aggressive and violent scenes with a crew gathering people with very different degrees of religiosity and some of them convincingly that they have made a good sacrifice. In fact, the film speaks about the side effects of poverty, lack of education and ignorance that ends in a total mess up with destiny of some characters. Definitely invite us to analyze our path in this life with real dramatic progression feels with a truly message: Be yourself without following religions, only spiritual paths where you can help some lost souls.
