Stillness can be deceptive, and even among the hallowed and sacred grounds of an orthodox compound, that seemingly serene setting can have much more boiling beneath the surface. And in Cristian Mungiu‘s “Beyond The Hills” it’s that unknowable factor that powers much of the drama in the film, which won awards for both its actresses at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan lead the film as Alina and Voichita, a pair of young women whose friendship in the orphanage where they were raised became something much more before their paths eventually diverged. However, when Alina comes to take Voichita out of a strictly orthodox religious compound where she now lives to restart the life they once shared, things move in unexpected directions. Faith and love are themes Mungiu explores in a variety of ways in the film, and so too is religion, and in this exclusive scene we see how the priest reacts when a “sign” is supposedly revealed.
A powerful and at times mesmerizing picture, we put “Beyond The Hills” on our list of 10 Films Worth Tracking Down In Theaters In March with good reason. The film opens in limited release this Friday.