SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Marius_Stan 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.

Reno Rangan The second movie for me from this director after a beautiful child custody dramedy, 'Everybody in Our Family'. This was totally different, a historical theme that takes place 200 years early to the present. This is a black and white flick that perfectly blends with the timeline of the narration. The Romania's submission for the 2016's Oscars. I have not seen all the foreign movie nominees, but having seen the out of the contest films like this and Brasil's 'The Second Mother', they are a lot better than the actually in the race film, 'A War'.Coming to this movie, I was almost certain that I wasn't going to write a review after knowing about it through the trailer and the synopsis despite good ratings and praised by the critics. Because I felt this must be a boring kind, so was thinking to get over with it. Like there's a saying, don't judge a book by its cover, it happened right here for me with this movie. So this is where I realised after the watch that the Academy Awards was totally wrong for snubbing it. In fact, this was one of the best foreign movies I have seen in the last six months or so."When a wise man opens his mouth, open your ear."They might have had a solid reason for that, that I don't know, but my guess is the film's ending. The opening was slow, the dialogues were loud, but sometime foolishly funny and sometimes wisely funny. Overall you must pay close attention, so that you can enjoy jokes. Definitely a wonderful adventure, like any other man hunt films, this was so serious on that affair, but viewers won't realise that till the final scene. A well supported music throughout to tell an incredible tale about two men on the mission who meet different people, land, culture and language.It is 1835, in the Eastern Europe region, Wallachia, the father-son duo from the police force on a trail to track down a runaway slave. They must go beyond their territorial limits to find him. On their way, they came forwards to the people they just met needed help, and vice versa, After the intense search they grab him in the remote place, but his version of the story to flee differs. So what comes later is the final act and a very shocking conclusion."Fear is shameful, but healthy. It's God's gift."Not so interested to very into it is something that I was not expected. The reason was obvious it was funnier than I thought. Besides that, I was uncomfortable with the slavery theme. It's turning me off from having a good time and beginning to concern. But that's how the old world was, as it was based on the old documents and texts of the real event. After that horrifying finale, the bold statement from the father to son that goes like this 'God, even looks after worms and we can't look after each other' is what made me think we had come a long way since, yet do everything has changed now? And you know the answer to that.It was not an unusual storyline, I have seen hundreds of other similar films, but it was from the different country, hence different language, culture, comedies, landscapes and different outcome result. Well, this film gets you at with the different moods at the different level of the narration. A fine merges of multiple genre, and yet delivers more than you anticipating. If you are wondering what is the meaning of the title, 'Well Done' or 'Bravo' is the English translation.Low budget movie? But, that's the reason this movie makes a very interesting. Because the 19th century tale and this film that kind feels like made in the early 30s (except the high framerate) pretty unlike to any modern black and white films. Definitely a must see if you're interested in this year's Oscar nominees for the best foreign movies, even though it did not make.8½/10

dromasca 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.

andreeeei 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.