Beyond the Hills

Originally released in 2012, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills revolves around two girls coming of age in rural Romania: Alina (Cristina Flutur) is adrift in life and doesn’t know what to do with herself other than flee to Germany. Her friend Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) is also uncertain of the future that she wants, so she joins a local convent, where she falls under the tutelage of a fiery priest who exudes a menacingly otherworldly air. Voichita finds the solitude of the nunnery soothing, while Alina can only think of running away from any kind of life of confinement. Mungiu’s pacing is—as one might expect in a movie that concerns convent life—somewhat measured, but as dark secrets begin to surface, the drama picks up and poor Voichita gets caught up in what turns out to be a nightmare. Beyond the Hills effectively explores the yearning for escape from a futile life under the broken promises of a post-Ceauşescu free society, but it also has something slightly disturbing to say about the inevitable return of faith to a post-Communist Romania. Recommended. (M. Sandlin)