4 Months 3 Weeks
& 2 Days (2007/IFC/Genius DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B
An
interesting cycle of character studies have been building that look at human
behavior under oppression, specifically Soviet Communism. These films take place just before the fall
of the Iron Curtain with the stipulation that the people have no idea that is
about to happen. Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months
3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007) is a story about two
college friends who have 24 hours to decide if the one who is pregnant will go
and have a black market abortion.
A
situation out of the clutches of the manipulative Religious Right, who claims
to despite communism, yet is creating the same circumstances in a free country
like The United States, this is the kind of honest look at the abortion issue
without woman-hating, condescending interference and sadly is not the kind of
film U.S. film has been capable of delivering, except in a rare case like The Cider House Rules.
No matter
what anyone on the Right says, the lack of choice and privacy always becomes a
situation to the detriment of women, always has been and always will be. Even as the Internet, more openness on the subject,
the inability to overturn Roe v. Wade and the growing existence of abortion pills,
the back alley is the back alley and ignoring it for a political agenda just
reinforces it. This often comes with a
big dose of misogyny, which extremists try to negate with “what about the baby”
propaganda as if a fetus is interchangeable, interlockable and can check in and
out of a woman.
With no
Civil Rights movement possible under Soviet oppression, these women have less
hope and if they heard about that of the United States’ Women Rights successes,
made sadder still. It is hard to defect
and run when carrying a baby.
The film
is not about abortion in the U.S., but is very successfully about the subject
worldwide, existentially and Mungiu’s screenplay is far from preachy as it
shows the slow process of where these women can and cannot turn. If they only had resources, where part of
some elite or free, they’d be able to make this decision without sinister
pressure and manipulation. The friends
only have each other, a situation common in the U.S. until the 1970s and the
film asks the hard questions with a subtlety that is mature, adult,
intelligent, palpable, real and not as predictable as you might think. This film received much acclaim and for a
change, it was understating how good the film was.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot by Director of Photography Oleg
Mutu, whose far-from-impressed me on The
Death of Mr. Lazarescu, reviewed elsewhere on this site. In many ways, this is the opposite from that,
with steady compositions that are memorable, images that help the narrative and
maybe it is the scope frame that forced him to work harder, even if it is Super
35mm film. Too bad it is not clearer,
but maybe the Blu-ray will look better when announced. The Dolby Digital Romanian 2.0 Stereo is a
good recording and decodes nicely in classic Pro Logic in an all-too-rare case
for DVD or Dolby Digital. Extras include
two on-camera interviews, one with Mungiu, the other with Mutu and a making of
documentary by Sorin Avram entitled 3
Months with 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2
Days.
- Nicholas Sheffo
