Song of the Day: “Protect Me From What I Want” – Placebo

I have a number of reviews I wrote yesterday from my long list, they will, however, be released to you one at a time, because we do not want you to O.D. on them. Right? However, before I release those, I will release this review, which I apparently wrote out last year and never released. Considering that it is a really good movie, I will make way for it first before I continue with the scheduled list. Enjoy!

-Fco.

4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days

This is the sort of story that in order to fully enjoy, you need to watch without knowing anything about the movie. If you have not seen the trailer, all the better and if you had not heard the praise it received the past year…no matter. Unfortunately, this is also the sort of movie you do not want to walk into blindly, however perfect it may be for the unfolding of the movie, in the end, this film has to do with abortion and that is not the sort of thing you lead people into with their eyes closed, particularly when it is told with this sort of frankness.

Set in Romania, the movie tells the story of two young women in 1987 trying to set up an abortion for one of them. It goes through the set up, the process and the aftermath, in an increasing sense of tension that is constantly there to remind the audience that, though this may be a film, it could have very well happened a thousand times to a thousand people.

I am curious to know what the budget for this film was, because it looked relatively small, with a small but very good cast and locations that are relatively simple. Amazing, that with so little to work with so much can actually be done. The writing seemed great, but I do have to say ‘seemed’ because it is translated from Romaian and I know something may have been lost in translation. I am curious to hear it from a Romanian speaker what they thought of dialogue, but the way it plays out on screen is natural and the subtitled conversations flow naturally…organically, if a little too fast at times to keep up with.

There is a question that lingers, however: is two hours too long for a movie having to do with abortion? And while I personally do not think so, I can see how the argument can be made for such. Safely I can say that the independent minded crowd will enjoy every detail of this film from beginning to end and will not mind much the sterile way in which is shot, where entire conversations unfold with only one person in screen and without changing camera angles. The mainstream crowd will likely be turned off by this early enough to avoid the disturbing abortion scene and a few shots that show some of the aftermath of the procedure. In many ways, this movie is almost emotionally taxing, which is of course fitting, but something else to be aware of. The way one needs to be in the proper mood to watch Requiem for Dream, so too you need to be prepared for this one.

Needless to say, this is intended for an adult audience, and it is a movie that packs a sobering punch. Not a movie to buy, to be honest. I simply can not see anybody saying, I must have this movie so I can watch it over and over and then watch it with my buddies. But like other movies that have something worthwhile to say, this movie is most definitely worth the watch.

Rating:
Notes: Graphic, disturbing material, abortion scene, nudity. Romanian with English subtitles. And on an unrelated note, nobody ever told me the Romanian language sounds so beautiful.