14 - Beyond the Hills (2012)

[Spoiler alert] 

In February 2007, a Romanian Orthodox Church priest was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his part in the June 2005 death of a young nun during an exorcism ritual. The novice had died in June 2005 at a remote Holy Trinity convent in the northeast Romanian village of Tanacu. She had been tied up for several days without food or water and chained to a cross. Four nuns who also participated were also sentenced, one nun receiving 8 years and the other three five years.

Inspired by Tatiana Nichulescu Bran's non-fiction novels based on the incident, director/screenwriter Cristian Mungiu created his fictional version of the actual events with a script that ended up being much longer than the completed film. Director Mungiu filmed and edited simultaneously in chronological order. 

Knowing that he could not film in a real convent, Mungiu created his own convent, consisting of a series of separate buildings consisting of a small rough-finished church and the several buildings where the nuns live and eat. The compound suggests more of a cult's headquarters than our traditional view of a religious convent. Setting the film in winter, whether intentional or just a fortuitous event, helps enhance the sense of isolation one finds "beyond the hills."

Mungiu's script focuses on Voichita and Alina, who were raised together in an orphanage and had pledged their love to each other as children. Their lesbian relationship was undoubtedly physical, but when they grew too old for the orphanage, they separated with Voichita going off to be a barmaid in Germany while Alina turned to the church and became a nun. As the film begins, Voichita comes to the convent planning to convince Alina that it is time for the two to run off to a new life together. Unfortunately, Alina cannot since she has found a love for God which makes her want to reject the physical love Voichita proposes. Voichita, who doesn't believe in God or the Church's solutions, finds herself cast adrift. 

In the world of Mungiu's convent, the Priest "Father's" authority is supreme. Functioning much like a cult-leader, whatever he says is taken as God's law. He determines when they eat, when they sleep, when they pray. Although he is aided by Mother who gives him advice, he remains the controller. 

Early on, Father says that Voichita needs to confess her sins for God's forgiveness if she wants to stay. When she is unable to confess to his satisfaction (Does he suspect the root of the relationship between the two and want her to admit it?), he gives the nuns a book of 400-some sins and tells Voichita to write down the ones she has committed. In a scene that could easily fit into the pacing and look of Bergman's Virgin Spring, a small group of the nuns sit with Voichita and Alina and read out the sins in order while Voichita is expected to write down her sins. She seems too proud, too lost, or too stubborn to understand.

When Father and Mother determine that it is better for Voichita to leave and return to the foster family that had taken her in as their hired help, Voichita rebels and eventually returns to the convent vowing to become a nun. She tries to starve herself to make herself appear worthy, but Father is outraged that she would decide to do this on her own. As with a cult leader, he must be in complete control. The nuns, often looking like a chorus of blackbirds, are almost medievally superstitutious and easily ruled by the two. 

When one of the nuns cuts wood and finds a black cross in the grains of the wood, the group decides that Voichita is indeed possessed of the devil and out to bring them harm. Eventually, Father has her locked up; in response she tries to burn the building down. The group decides Voichita is indeed possessed and they set about to perform an exorcism. As Voichita struggles and screams, they tie her and then chain her to a makeshift cross and eventually gag her. In the process of the exorcism, which takes several days, she dies. The police come and arrest Father, Mother and three other nuns, including Alina, and take them off to an uncertain future.

Mungiu's work has been compared by an NPR American critic to the work of early Igmar Bergman, and he does have that same sparse feeling. He attempts throughout to use natural light and non-electricity. In several frames, he composes the picture with the most important person at center with their back to the audience. The nuns or other actors surround the center figure. As the nuns of the convent all appear in black, they suggest a menacing Greek chorus in many scenes. When interviewed, Mungiu talked about how he composed in layers like a painter. The dialog feels sparse as the lonely landscape of the compound.

Mungiu's film seems to transform itself into the Medieval mindset as the snow covers the landscape. Throughout I had to keep reminding myself this was present day, not centuries ago. As the guilty are taken off to face modern justice, Mugiu considers "Who is to blame for Voichita's death?" Ignorance? Superstition? Arrogance? The Church? Homophobia? Voichita herself? Ultimately the answer fails to come but the questions stay with us long after the viewing ends.

The film was deservedly nominated as one of best foreign films at the 2012 Academy Awards.

Beyond the Hills (2012) ****