À l'Ombre des Séraphins

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!

'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.

From the first frame of the film you know that this will be a good movie. Don't get fooled by the title, this is not a movie about religion or church, it's about people that run religion, people that take advantage on religion and people that want to become part of religion. It's sprinkled with sex, alcohol and other deeds that a young man who aspire to become an orthodox priest should stay away from, but let's not spoil it too much.

There are a lot of great characters played by young skillful actors, but on top of them all sits the Vlad Ivanov who delivers a great performance and manages to take this movie to another level and proves again that he is one of the best romanian actors.

I recommend this movie especially to non-romanian people. It's a good peep hole to romanian church, corruption and culture, even more because it's inspired by a true story.

In all honesty, Vlad Ivanov's name is the only thing which attracted me to watch "A step behind the seraphim". The director is unknown to me and so are the rest of the cast, except a cameo by Anca Sigartau- I guess. But this review is not about Vlad Ivanov, excellent in his rendering a deeply corrupt and devious priest/teacher; all the characters embodied by this actor are flawlessly acted. I find it odd that I never heard about this film before, as if there was a conspiracy to keep it under the lid- I wonder why... What seems extraordinary is how this film tackles a delicate issue- religion always seems to be a delicate issue to deal with, especially when the approach is objective and critical. A high school for future priests, a community of teen- aged boys in the throes of adolescence, a teacher who is everything but holy, an environment reminding of the communist epoch, with its double standards for thinking and expressing oneself, a place where a wolf in a sheep skin's will prevails over the one most crucial element that should be taught- true belief for those meant to inspire simple mortals in church- the film is about all these tangled and tormented human beings. Although quite long, the film keeps you interested, almost on the edge of your seat so to speak, due to the relentless efforts of priest Ivan to play everyone else like puppets. Faith is only a facade, the boys start to realize it rather early in their formative years. It is all about getting information, either written under duress or obtained through confession and using it against one's enemies, it's about power and dominance. Without openly stating it, the film offers explanations concerning why so many priests fail to be convincing in the act of faith, why the Orthodox church is more about money than anything else. Confused teenagers, stern or even violent parents, a closed environment where lies, deceit and manipulation prevail, hypocritical or weak teachers- this is a destructive cocktail meant to impede the access to authentic faith, rather than be an incentive to believe and to preach it. Most of the cast are young boys, clearly not actors, but their acting is so compelling, their dialogues are so convincing- a rather rare bird in Romanian movies- the imagery combining smoothly the oppressive inside of the high school and the picturesque lands around it, these are all elements working together to make "A step behind the seraphim" a remarkable Romanian film. Kudos to the whole crew!

teenagers.between vocation and the desires of the age.forms of resistance against the pressures. an Orthodox seminary circle who reflects Romanian school system in many aspects. and the compromises. good music. admirable performances. the touch of personal experiences of the director at his first movie. and the trip across a world of survive. the easy verdict - a film against the Church. in fact, only the exploration of the geography of an age, with its clear perception about good and bad, with its aspects of weakness and idealism and a priest teacher and his recipe of successful control. the basic observation - new proof of the force of performance from Vlad Ivanov. the second - first step of a great generation of actors. and the ironic expression about appearances and expectations.not the last - the bitter humor. and the tension who remains good spice for a film who has the virtue to escape to the expectations.