Beyond The Hills (Directors Suite/ Madman)

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There aren’ too many uplifting exorcism films, and Beyond the Hills doesn’ change this. What it does do is take the supernatural out of the equation, whilst also removing any of the sensationalism commonly associated with the genre. There are real links to director Christian Mungui’ previous film, the Palme d’Or winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, And 2 Days both in terms of its social realism, and in the way tension builds as state institutions fail in their duty to care for their people.

“Most of the greatest mistakes of this world have been made in the name of faith, and with the absolute conviction they were done for a good cause,” Mungui is quoted, as saying on the DVD cover and it’s an apt summation of the film as a whole.

Mungui is Romanian, and where 4 Months, 3 Weeks, And Two Days was set in the last days of the Ceausescu regime when abortion was illegal, Beyond the Hills is set in the present. Yet it’s a present without electricity, where water is drawn from a well and there’ no money or modern luxuries. It’s a Spartan existence in an orthodox nunnery on a bare windswept hill in Moldavia. We see it through the eyes of Alina, who coming from Germany, has returned to run away with her childhood friend Volchita. But once she arrives she finds a different Volchita from the young girl she grew up with at the local orphanage. Volchita’ life is now consumed with the lord and there’ no longer enough room in her heart for Alina as well. Beyond the Hills is a love story, yet it’s a conflicted love derailed by obligation, notions of sin, mental illness and a search for being.

Mungui is incredibly adept at painting honest realistic characters. There are no villains here, like his earlier quote, everyone is trying to do what they believe is right. From the doctors to the father, to the nuns themselves when faced with a situation getting increasingly out of control (and outside their experience), whether right or wrong they turn to the only thing they know, and in the case of the nuns and their father it’s their faith.

Beyond the Hills

Beyond the Hills is an exacting film. With long takes, it’s slow going, and slow building, clocking in at almost two and a half difficult hours. Each minute builds the feeling of impending dread as Alina and the priest square off against each other. What Mungui excels in is shifting the power balances allowing the viewer to continuously alter their perceptions of each character throughout. Nothing is two-dimensional here, nothing remains the same for long.

Whilst there’ no score, sound is important in Beyond the Hills, especially during it’s climactic scenes. Whilst the wind is always been present, by the end it’s a howling tempestuous gale, bells are chiming and the crows are calling. “Poor her, she must be paying for some sin she committed,” offers one of the nuns as they get the chains from the dog kennel to restrain the hysterical Alina.

The last ten minutes of the film are possibly the most compelling, the exorcism is long gone and now we’re dealing with the aftermath. “I’d rather go to hell than have you pray for me,” says the irritated doctor as suddenly we’re off the hill and back in the modern world. And it’s a difficult shift. Away from a world dominated by faith the enormity of what has transpired and their own complicity becomes harrowingly clear to all involved. Especially the viewer.

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Bob is the features editor of Cyclic Defrost. He is also evil. You should not trust the opinions of evil people.

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