Beyond
the Hills
Dir: Cristian Mungiu
2012
****
It
is quite amazing just how Cristian Mungiu’s 2012 film Beyond the Hills is so
subtle but still manages to go for the jugular. The film takes an intelligent
swipe at the Romanian Orthodox church and it is interesting to know that the
popular musical The Book of Mormon was released around the same time. I find
comparing them quite interesting, as they are both worlds apart in structure
and tone but they somehow pull off the same trick – one using laughter and the
other using tragedy – but both showing the ridiculousness of some religious
practices. The story follows two orphaned young women, Voichița and Alina.
Alina has come to visit the Romanian Orthodox convent
during Lent, where Voichița now lives. Alina had been working in Germany,
and it transpires that the two girls were previously roommates at a children's
home and had shared a physical relationship. The monastery is led by a
30-year-old Priest who speaks ill of declining faith in Western Europe,
citing same-sex marriage, and forbids anyone outside of the faith from
entering. He inquires about Alina to Voichița, who tells him Alina irregularly
attends church and does not go to confession. They soon urge Alina to
begin confessing, especially if she intends to stay. Alina clearly wants to
rekindle her relationship with Voichița, but Voichița tells her they must be
cautious given it is Lent. Voichița seems tempted, especially when sex is
offered but her new way of life has changed her and she makes it her mission to
‘save’ her friend. Both friends try to ‘save’ each other in their own ways but
they have grown too far apart. Some time later after Alina has left the
convent, Voichița seeks her out, and when she finds her she tells her she is
now a nun, that she has chosen to be with God so she will never be alone, and
her love of Alina is different from before. Voichița convinces her to return
with her to the convent, but Alina asks Voichița that they escape together.
Their relationship is clearly deep-rooted and once more they try to save one
another. After Voichița refuses, Alina attempts to jump down a well, but is
restrained by the nuns and taken to the hospital. There, doctors restrain Alina
to prevent her self-harm, after which they send her back to the convent to
assist with recovery. There, the nuns read to Alina about sin. Alina begins
a ‘Black Fast’, but when the Priest learns of this when Alina is not at
the table, they see Alina is attempting to enter the altar to make a wish to
the icon they have there. The Priest admits the icon exists, but says entering
the altar is a severe sin, and tells the nuns the Devil is in Alina
and the convent. Alina is clearly suffering a breakdown as she feels she has
lost her friend, partner and lover. Alina remains tied down to a board with
chains and towels. The nuns witness a worsening in her condition and take her
back to the hospital. There, the hospital staff find Alina is dead on arrival,
and observe the wounds on her wrists and ankles from the restraints. The staff
tells the nuns this constitutes homicide and threatens to call the police and
media. An officer investigates the convent. Seeing the board Alina was tied to,
the officer interprets it as a cross. The officer also says forcible restraint
leading to death is a homicide. The Priest denies criminal intent, saying the
restraints were to prevent self-harm, and invoking the analogy of a parent's
right to force children to take medicine, though the officer replies Alina was
not a child and the Priest was not her guardian. The nuns also cite Alina's
strength as mysterious, but Voichița says Alina studied martial arts. The
police take the Priest and the nuns who tied up Alina away, with Voichița
choosing to go with them. The screenplay was inspired by two novels by the
writer Tatiana Niculescu Bran, documenting the Tanacu exorcism, in
which a young member of a monastery in Moldavia died in 2005 after
an exorcism ritual. Mungiu was inspired to make the film after seeing
the stage version in New York while promoting 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
in 2007. It’s a darker film than Mungiu’s previous work, concentrating on the
classic idea of there being two sides to every story. To me this was an atheist
film but to someone religious it could mean something else, it basically
explores the presence of God and the absence of God, depending on the viewer’s
faith. There is a level of ambiguity about it, with all the talk of god, it is
really the question of the devil that is at play. I also think that how mental
illness is still looked at by many religions is an important subject to
explore. The contrast in tone throughout the film is quite unexpected but
rather effective. The subjective conclusion was very satisfying, very much a
‘life continues as normal’ outside the happenings of a convent where even the
tiniest of events can become exacerbated. Grim and enlightening with a slice of
lemon – classic Cristian Mungiu.
