ON THE SILVER SCREEN: KIND HEARTS AND EXORCISTS (BEYOND THE HILLS)

By Brian Lafferty

March 19, 2013 (San Diego) – Despite the many perpetual controversies surrounding the Catholic Church, Islam, Scientology, and other religions, I am not opposed to organized religion.  In fact, religion as a whole fascinates me.  I have a lot of family and very good friends (some of them practically family) who have found peace, happiness, and spiritual and mental well-being from it.  Religion has been a major part of the human race, and it’s had an effect on world history, philosophy, literature, art, and everything else.  That’s why, as part of my overall plan to improve myself as a person through self-education about the aforementioned subjects and more, I’ve had a desire to learn about the various religions practiced in the world. 

I want to learn more about the many religions.  However, I’m not a religious person.  When I got my First Communion, to me it simply meant being able to go to Priest and get bread.  The readings from the Missal meant little to me; perhaps it’s because they were slices from the various Bible books and I needed the whole picture.  Heck, I don’t even know how to pray.  Shortly after Mom died, he told me how he prayed – if I recall correctly, he said he “talks” to God.  Therein lies the problem: if there is a God – and I will go on the record here and admit I am an agnostic – He is not for everybody.

Watching Beyond the Hills confirmed my sentiments.  It begins with two best friends from childhood – Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) and Alina (Cristina Flutur) – both raised in a Romanian orphanage.  Alina left Romania for a better life in Germany, but missed Voichita immensely.  She’s disappointed to find Voichita a different woman than the one she grew up with.  Voichita, now devoutly religious, is a Sister at an Orthodox church.  Alina – who is heavily implied to be agnostic – is taken aback when Voichita refuses to leave the monastery behind and stay in Germany with her.  With nowhere for Alina to go, distraught over her best friend’s chosen path, and unable to bear the thought of life without the only person she ever loved, she is overcome with severe depression and fits of self-harm and violence towards the Sisters and the Father (Valeriu Andriuta) that lead to an attempted exorcism.

Cristian Mungiu’s storytelling technique is akin to meditation.  Every scene runs at both a slight languid pace and as long as Mungiu feels it needs to.  These leisurely devices allow conversations between characters to flow at a natural pace and fully develop and evolve.  The scene in which the Sisters read aloud to Alina the first 15 to 20 of the 460-plus sins is a fine example of the former.  The dinner table conversation that goes from topic to topic – the Father’s dislike of the West, to his opposition to same-sex marriage, and how the world has become too tolerant – exemplifies the latter. 

I noted many times in my head how the characters speak like real people do; the dialogue – or, more accurately, the subtitles – isn’t fancy and the verbal execution is straightforward.  It’s as if the actors are totally ignorant of the camera’s presence.

William Friedkin’s landmark horror film The Exorcist (1973) inspired many copycats in that genre.  Beyond the Hills isn’t a horror film, at least in the supernatural sense.  There is no demon inside Alina, but everybody at the monastery except her believes otherwise.  In fact, their strong and ardent belief that she is possessed is what makes the exorcism as other-worldly and horrifying as one seen in any good horror film.

This is primarily owed to the film’s rigid adherence to realism.  That realism is what makes Beyond the Hills so haunting and harrowing.  Mungiu’s highly economical shooting and editing makes this possible.  He films every scene in one long take; no back and forth cutting between speaking characters, as is conventional in almost every film.  Editor Mircea Olteanu cuts only when it’s time to move to the next scene.  It’s like a documentary in which cinematographer Oleg Mutu’s unobtrusive camera sits and records the events as they happen, with no interference or influence.

Beyond the Hills doesn’t attack religion.  Mungiu is surprisingly neutral by giving both perspectives equal time and makes a compelling case for both sides.  It uses the polarizing topic to explore how it tests friendships and faith.  The results are very tragic for all involved.  In this day and age of religious turmoil surrounding, in particular, the Catholic Church and Islam, Beyond the Hills offers a compelling, reasonable, and rational take on religion that many prominent people and institutions from all sides of the issue seem to not want to offer. 

A-

Beyond the Hills is currently playing at the Landmark La Jolla Village.

An IFC Films release.  Director:  Cristian Mungiu.  Screenplay:  Cristian Mungiu, inspired by the non-fiction novels of Tatiana Niculescu Bran.  Cinematography:  Oleg Mutu.  Cast:  Cosmina Stratan, Christina Flutur, Valeriu Andriuta, Dana Tapalaga, and Catalina Harabagiu.  Running time:  150 minutes.  Unrated.

Brian Lafferty welcomes letters at brian@eastcountymagazine.org.  You can also follow him on Twitter:  @BrianLaff.