watching this Romanian film, which is simple in style and profound in content, full of lens meaning, dramatic tension and human torture, I can't fall asleep until midnight.
This film, which has not found any investment in the first six months of filming, won the Palme d’Or award for Romania at the 60th Cannes Film Festival. The director Christiaan Mongi is undoubtedly a humanitarian and technical person. A high-quality young man who dares to reflect deeply and is full of thoughts, in "April Three Weeks and Two Days", he partially borrowed the shooting methods of documentary films, and used a large number of fixed camera and shoulder-mounted lenses for follow-up shooting, etc. In addition, the excellent long shot is a highlight of the film, which not only shows the world, but also shows the calm and simple tone. At the same time, the emotions of the characters in the middle shots, the scheduling and switching of the angle space, the innovative editing techniques, the sound effects without the soundtrack are only derived from the sound effects of the indoor actions, and the extraordinary superb performances of the selected actors...all these will be When the country’s ideology was about to undergo drastic changes 20 years ago, the two young girls’ troubled lives reappeared one by one, and it was the “Law against Abortion” promulgated during Ceausescu’s reign that made them panic and anxious.
April, three weeks and two days, is the total length of time from pregnancy to abortion of female college student Gabita in the film, and her physical and mental pain seems to be more than that of Otilia (played by Anna Maria Malinka) who assisted her. Slightly relaxed. Gabita, who was unfortunately recruited, was undoubtedly panicked, cowardly and helpless, even a little naive, and needed a roommate to help her out of the desperate situation. She herself could not bear this terrible experience, although she had to bear it. As a result, she lamented, annoyed, and blamed herself even more. Due to her miscalculations and far-fetched lies, Otilia, who borrowed the cost of abortion, had to pay more. The illegal abortion doctor, Bi Bei, would be more dangerous if the month was too big. And Jiabita’s "distrust" as a reason, asked them to pay more than expected. Since the money is not enough, the body will pay for it, and Otilia has no choice...
The film fully demonstrates Mengji's excellent scene management ability and ability to control the entire film. Although the scenes involved in the film are not too many, they are connected properly. Otilia appears everywhere in the film: looking for a boyfriend Borrowing money, looking for a hotel to open a room, picking up doctors in the rivers and lakes, going back to the hotel to negotiate, going to her boyfriend’s house for a banquet, to deal with the stillbirth... People followed her to gradually understand the director’s narrative intentions and humanity questions, and Meng Ji has been smooth all the way. He smoothly leads the audience into that unique era, and the way he outlines the characters is similar to a line drawing in many places.
In a closed and repressive social environment, the fact of abortion must be concealed, which makes Otilia's behavior itself create an unprecedentedly dense sense of urgency, and also makes the whole film full of invisible pressure. And the detail processing of the baby-throwing paragraph in the film is suffocating and unforgettable. First, Otilia opened the door of the hotel bathroom and looked in, with a frightened expression. Then the camera switched to looking down on a pair of corpses on the ground. This cruel shot tested the audience's psychological defense for a few seconds. Then, Otilia wrapped up the rudimentary human corpse, emptied the backpack, and loaded the fetal corpse. The action of emptying the backpack caused the small fragments in the bag to crash and fall, which suddenly doubled the anxiety. Then, Otilia ran to the outdoors, darkness enveloped the quiet and hazy neighborhood, and the sudden dog barking made the nerves that had been in a state of tension even more tense. People passing by along the way, no matter the police or the idlers, any good deeds. Either way, it is possible to disrupt the plan of "destruction of the dead". Finally, Otilia climbed up the tall building with a pant, and treated the little life that shouldn't have come into this world according to the instructions of the previous travel doctor. At this moment, Otilia is squatting, with a curved back like an old woman. So utterly weak.
It can be said that Mengji put all the things he wanted to express into the shot. In the film, there is a long shot of 7 minutes and 17 seconds that appeared on the dinner table at the birthday party of Otilia’s boyfriend’s mother. Everyone here except Otti. Leah are all Kochis, they think highly of themselves, they are the beneficiaries of the system, and they treat Otilia, who is of ordinary origin, with a seemingly polite but arrogant attitude. The director seems to want to use this to examine the banality, vanity, hypocrisy, and indifference of the Romanian intellectual class at that time. And Otilia, who had just experienced the tragic "meal compensation" experience, sat awkwardly among these people, panicked, wandering, and pale... When she ran out of her boyfriend's house, she was worried about Gabita's in the hotel. Circumstances rushed all the way, in the cold and cold street, she began to vomit, and everything she experienced made her sick.
In the film, there is a conversation between Otilia and her boyfriend. Otilia believes that her boyfriend does not care about her menstrual period and never considers her safety. "If I am pregnant, what should I do?" "But you are not pregnant!" Her boyfriend did not understand why Otilia had to repeatedly assume that nothing happened. He was constantly questioning his girlfriend. And his ambiguous attitude caused Otilia's heart to fall to the bottom-assuming she is pregnant, what will her boyfriend do? Can his parents who pay attention to the so-called "honor and upbringing" accept her? Under such circumstances, will her boyfriend be really responsible? At this time, she clearly realized that if she was pregnant, she might become the second Jiabita to suffer alone. Here, director Munji mentioned an eternal topic about men’s desires and responsibilities, and his pity for women’s perspective and thinking makes people see a director’s objectivity beyond his own gender limitations.
At the end of the film, the scene is frozen in the hotel lobby. A wedding is still being held. The protagonist of the wedding seems to be a pair of happy friends who actually fought at their wedding. When Otilia returned after processing the corpse, they had already ceased the war. , The music sounded, and the wedding banquet continued. At the dining table on the other side, Gabita, who was "empty in her belly", was ready to have a delicious meal, but Otilia had no appetite. She had just experienced perhaps the worst and darkest day of her life. At the end of the day, her heart was lost, painful, and lingering. These were far more painful than physical efforts.
Both girls in the film have a scene of partial nudity, and this nudity is necessary and painful. Unlike other artificial films under the banner of art, it does not make the audience feel disgusted or have other bad feelings about the movie. On the contrary, Feelings for this sudden physical exposure, whether it’s Otilia’s body exchange or Gabita’s abortion, which forces women to give up embarrassment, shyness, and even self-esteem. The reappearance is real and cruel, direct and helpless, and full of powerful forces that shock reflections.
It is reported that in 2006 Romania produced 10 films in its own country, accounting for 4% of the total box office of the country’s films. This 4% gave young and confident Romanian directors hope that they are standing in the breadth of the world with the concept of surpassing their predecessors. With a high degree of humanity and a calm and distant observation of the current Romania, it also wisely chews and reflects on the trauma of the past, just like cats. One of the ways to heal wounds and self-heal is to lick them carefully.
( Http://nicolew.blog.hexun.com/16585027_d.html )
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