Milagro

I can't understand the negative reviews here. This is an excellent movie! The only quibble I might have is that the pacing is a little slow. Some scenes linger too long on nothing or pan the landscape at an excruciatingly slow clip. But acting was solid, direction strong and cinematography beautiful. It's always interesting to see the world in movies and this was a nice way to see a country I'll probably never get a chance to visit.

The miracle of the title was initially cathartic but was somewhat muted by a following revelation that took the mood down a few notches.

Special props to the acting by the guy who played the main detective - he did a great job!

I had the chance to read a couple of the external reviews about this movie and they are favorable to the film. The only problem is that in order for the plot to make sense is that the "determined" police officer in charge of the investigation does not seem to be aware that nowadays one have DNA tests to proof certain crimes. And also that you can make a guess about certain things just by tracing the latest cell phones calls of the victim. If you can accept that then maybe the plot could make sense to you.

On the other hand I was never friend of movies in which one has to be a wizard to understand certain scenes. I like direct language. So be aeare.

It's not because of this film especially but I have decided to not watch Romanian films for some years. There are certain aspects that I got sick of:

• very long shots that are useless and provide nothing (yes the long shots are very European specific but they do in in certain moments to evoke certain emotions. If you do this for the whole film then it's missing the mark)
• characters complaining about communism/old days/ being poor
• very typical Romanian characters
• that shot that many films have that have some sort of shock value or have to keep you disturbed for some minutes for no reason

These are some aspects that are in most of these films and you will find in this one as well.

The police officer is the only character that I enjoyed watching in this movie.

The ending also was kind of interesting although it doesn't completely make sense.

Maybe I just want a different kind of movie out of the Romanian cinemas that doesn't just fallback on some specific characteristics.

Looks like most people who write reviews about Romanian things feel like they should focus on the negative parts. Even when they found something good about the movie (acting, plot, etc) they still give the movie one star.

I know Romania has a very bad reputation and it's not a fancy place to look up to but can you please leave all that behind and try to appreciate what this movie actually has to offer?

They complain about long shots. But they still wanted to watch the resolution. They complain about typical Romanians who complain a lot and everything else. Looks like you too are in the habit of complaining!

This is Romanian style police work but don't forget that it's still a movie where you can't allow yourself the sin of being boring. Things are exaggerated and these policemen had to do something out of the ordinary to impress the audience.

Someone here talked about DNA testing and concluded that Romanian cinematography has nothing to offer. But they don't notice that the policeman was emotionally involved so he was supposed to act a little crazy.

I'm sorry that people failed to notice lots of nice things about this movie and they think that all movies are supposed to copy American style who-done-it so they can be worth a good review.

The story you see in this movie is about regular life with its ugly rearing in occasional violence and cruelty.

What you don't explicitly see, and what this movie is all about, is the hidden dimension, a profoundly spiritual one, that we cannot grasp but, occasionally, we suffer its brutal intervention in the real life that we are well conditioned to perceive.

All throughout the movie there are clues that will explain the seemingly unexplainable actions of the characters. I confess, I was clueless at the end of the movie about almost everything that happened in it. But the revelation came after like a lightning strike that shed light to all dark corners of the enigma.

After all, the movie is, every second of it, about the gargantuan struggle between good and evil. It is about how good and evil is unexpectedly taking shape in the real world. It is about the unbearable burden of sin and the heavy price humans have to pay to redeem themselves from it.