Im Schatten der Seraphim

'One Step Behind the Seraphim' reminded me Pedro Almodóvar's "Bad Education" in many ways. Both films can be seen as recovery exercises from old traumas by sharing personal experiences many years later, films in which the directors included part of the personal experiences of the years spent in religious education systems. Both films take place in countries (Spain and Romania) which came out of nights of dictatorship. The difference is that in Almodóvar's film the religious school system belonged to the old regime, while in Daniel Sandu's film the Orthodox theological school that is presented (for the first time as far as I know in a Romanian film) was allowed to function freely only after the 1989 revolution. In both films, the heroes, children or teenagers, are confronted with the rigidity of dogmatic systems and evil personalities among teachers who will influence their roads in life.

The heroes in Daniel Sandu's film are not presented as passive victims. They are at the age of uncertainties and discoveries, but also at the point where they can begin to discern between good and evil and may decide to collaborate with evil to fight against it. Director Daniel Sandu, in his first feature film, comes from this world. Although he has left it many years ago, he does not look back with anger, but rather tries to describe the system and the people who populate it, as he knew them in the first decade after the fall of Communism. The image is not radically different from that of the 'outside' world, there is corruption and dogmatism, but guilt seems rather personal. So is the revolt of young people, whose conflict seems more personal than anti-dogmatic. The final scene (a visual quote from '1984') suggests acceptance and integration in the system after the danger has passed, at least for the time being.

'One Step Behind the Seraphim' succeeds very well in describing the group of young men on the threshold of maturity, at the age and in the phase of experiences and rebellions. The team of young actors is doing a great job, each of the characters is well built and different from the others. I am not a great amateur of coming to age movies, but the quality of the acting game conquered me, with a special mention for Stefan Iancu, a reincarnation of James Dean in Romanian cinema. Vlad Ivanov proves with every new role that he is one of the great Romanian actors of the moment. His character embodies the continuity of corruption in the Romanian society, the perpetuation of the old methods of denunciations and personal files in combination with the new rhetoric, the one of the church in this case, which they compromise through contamination. Director Daniel Sandu demonstrated professionalism in leading the actors and story telling. The film is a bit long but it avoids ostentation and remains in memory because of the thematic and of its heroes. 'One Step Behind the Seraphim' adds a new facet to the complex image of Romanian cinema.

The concept of corruption, greed and evil in a Theological college is an interesting one. The problem with this is the way the story is told. There is minimal dialog, the scenes are loosely linked so continuity becomes difficult, and most of the time, the script and dialog appears to be improvised. It is a low budget production, but one that could have been "glued" together much better!

First: Not a movie about The Church. It's a great story about coming of age in a very specific and harsh environment, friendship and finding yourself. Excellent movie that shifts the approach about such topics in the Romanian cinematography. It's good to see a movie that doe does not exploit in a dramatic way the status quo of the Romanian society in the last 30 years, but tries to tell a real story. The music and cast are on point and Daniel's style is omnipresent throughout the narrative.

I came back home a few hours ago from the cinema where I saw this movie and I still think about it. It made me write my first review so please don't be harsh. This was for sure the most interesting movie made in Romania (by far) - and I tried to watch them all! I had a lot of fun, the crowd reacted so good at this movie, it was for the first time when I felt like home at the cinema! The story shows the truth behind what can happen in a Priests school in a very intelligent and funny way. In some of the situations I even saw myself in high- school skipping school and run to the billiard club, all the smoking and experience sex from the first time. So many things happen in this movie that I even wish for a sequel or even a TV series based on this story. The performance of the young actors (and not only) from this movie was VERY credible. I recommend all of u who question themselves if this one worth to be seen to go and watch it and then, if they don't feel the same like me to answer this review :) I can't understand why I didn't saw advertising true the city about this movie, it's absolutely brilliant - other movies have huge advertising campaigns, but don't even worth the drive to the cinema.

I dreaded that the film is going to be about another over-dramatised and falsely advertised misconducts in the Orthodox Church BUT it wasn't! I dislike commercial films where you're forced to give up one and a half hour from your life or even more for another cliché ending or nothing. The actors play their roles authentically, the story could have been detailed more and the ending is gripping as well. Music in films are important to me, so it's well chosen and makes you think a bit about the film next day after you've watched it. I recommend it!