Last Wednesday, AHFW looked at our favorite movie from 2018, Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War”, a film set mostly in Poland during the 1950s and 60s. This Wednesday, we’ll stay in Eastern Europe, but shift to 1980s Romania in the visceral, tense and feels-altogether-real “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”.
“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” – It’s wintertime, and although snow only exists in small traces near the edges of sidewalks, temperatures are frigid. People wear heavy jackets, and the skies are gray. At the local university, the dormitory rooms and hallways feel antiseptic or equally as cold as the chilly weather outside. In Otilia’s (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita’s (Laura Vasiliu) room, neither woman supports a smile as they shuffle notes on their desks and tidy up.
Otilia then walks out and quickly moves down the hallway and darts from room to room. She asks questions or gives direction with a purpose. The girls are leaving for two days, but under suspicious circumstances. Otilia borrows money from her boyfriend, and their plan is set in motion.
The plan? An illegal abortion, and understandably, the women make several unfortunate mistakes during their journey.
Writer/director Cristian Mungiu captures them all in a raw, unfiltered fashion, and we become a nearby observer during this uncomfortable turn of events.
(“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” is available on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Netflix DVD)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Image credits: BAC Films, Trailer credits: Movieclips Classic Trailers
