Aferim!

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.

Being based on lots of writings from that era, I suppose that this movie reflects a fair image of life in Tara Romaneasca (Wallachia) of the 19th Century, with its' patterns and prejudices. It probably does some justice to today's Romani, when Europe encounters them again and there is no narrative to explain who their ancestors were. And maybe it does some justice to today's Romanians too, when the European public finds out what is the distinction between Romanians and Romani.

The movie can evoke amusement, disapproval, empathy. However, the spectator discovers more and more that comedy turns to tragedy.

I appreciate the fact that Aferim has complex characters that are not entirely positive or negative.

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.

an useful film. for understand the roots of modern Romania. a beautiful one. for archaic language's flavor, for the nuances of emotions, for the powerful clichés who defines the Walachian society not only in the year 1835. a seductive film. for the good performances, for the crumbs from great films, for the art to broke the limits between artistic film and documentary. an interesting film. for the science to reflect a period's deep lines of life. for humanity and for the grace of details. for the art not to remand but recreate not only a portrait but a state . for dialogs and for the values. for something who reflects the profound Romania behind the definitions or verdicts. Teodor Corban does an admirable job and Radu Jude becomes more than a promise for Romanian cinema. because, for the foreign public Aferim ! could be a slice of exotic world from Balkans in the XIX century. for the Romanians it represents chain of answers for a lot of questions. and, maybe, an exercise of honesty.

I think it's almost impossible for someone who is not a Romanian speaker to really get most of the dialog in this movie. There are a lot of archaic words and expressions from funny to sad or contemplative that are for sure lost in translation. I am a Romanian, born and raised in this country, and I didn't understand 30-35 % of the words. I have to see it again with subtitles on to fully appreciate the mesmerizing Wallachian dialect. It's a great movie nonetheless, with beautiful cinematography and solid performances from the actors, so I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to see how life was 200 years ago in Romania.