4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMINI SI 2 ZILE (CRISTIAN MUNGIU) * * * *

(BY ALI NADERZAD) In 4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days), director Cristian Mungiu avoids overt political references giving his characters Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) a valiant voice. He illustrates difficult historical times with a story about a black market abortion. Without conceit, the film leads you to discover how an average life was affected by daily pressures under Ceaucescu’s Romania and how mundane things like finding the right brand of cigarettes can linger unfulfilled for days. As Otilia charts a dangerous course through a closely watched city to help her friend, she urges enigmatic men on the street laden with tote bags full of contraband for a pack of Kent—the cigarettes were in short supply that day. One of the greatest strengths of the film is Mungiu's ability to expand his characters, juxtaposing their emotions and their motivations on the rawest level. Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) are students who share a dorm room together. When Gabita becomes pregnant, she decides to have an abortion, a choice which has far more implications than the abortion we know of today: they're illegal, and therefore dangerous. Because of their illicit nature, such procedures got pushed underground and the health risk of invasive procedure performed by less-than-savory characters (such as our own Mr. Bebe, here) skyrocketed. Gabita's friend Otilia is the dominant character in this story; in fact, she carries the entire film by herself. Without her, Gabita's abortion cannot take place. Otilia sorts out a hotel room and brings the abortion doctor over to perform the procedure. The black market over the public square and you would need to have people recommended to you for accomplishing various necessities. And in an authoritarian society like 1980s Romania, women, especially, are even more overlooked than the male citizenry. Gabita and Otilia have to fend for themselves. In this case, when Gabita has no choice but to get an abortion she doesn't just ask for her roommate's help: she pins her every hope onto her candidacy. And yet, the complicitness between the two young women is free of any sentimentality. In fact, most of the people who appear in this film, from the hotel clerks to Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the self-styled abortionist, exude a crabby reluctance in their every dealings with others. So what is it about a clandestine abortion in 1980s Romania that makes 4 months 3 weeks and 2 days such a brilliant film, one to watch again and remember forever, hopefully? First, it's because of the strained and elegant cadence of Mungiu's images, which never bore you, or rush you when all you wanted to do was linger. Then, there's that probing single-shot, single-take esthetic which can do nothing except draw you in. In many films seen today, close-ups become almost confrontational by being so in-your-face (or the actor's) and scenes transition into one another at too rapid a pace. Here, on the other hand, the camera tarries in a scene, allowing us to absorb it entirely. When Otilia is at her boyfriend's home where his parents are celebrating with their friends, everyone crowds around the table after dinner to drink strong drinks, smoke and tell stories. Everyone is on one side of the table, framed by Mungiu unobtrusively. This allows one's eyes to wander about the scene and pick up cues about it and note how uncomfortable the young woman truly feels among these strangers. Anamaria Marinca's performance is strong enough that it carries the entire film. After all, she is followed for the entire film by the camera; her every moment of doubt is recorded, and as the film progresses to its conclusion we ask ourselves whether she has become trapped by an act she is asked to commit or she has actually vindicated herself through helping a friend. Without a doubt, 4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile is one of the most vital films to have been made in recent times--an absolute must-see.