Romania-born writer-director Bogdan George Apetri's crime drama with spiritual overtones moves quite slowly and is likely to remind international cineastes of French cinema's great Catholic filmmaker-cum-theologian Robert Bresson. Abandon ye all hope of car chases.
In modern Romania, a beautiful 19-year-old novice nun, Cristina (Ioana Bugarin), secretly departs the isolated convent, where she has only resided a few months, to visit a medical clinic in the big city—foreboding stuff, there. Afterward, however, Cristina is savagely raped and beaten just off the motorway. This is a striking 360-degree pan sequence, during which the viewer sees very little of the atrocity, yet one feels the impact excruciatingly.
Investigating is Marius (Emanuel Pârvu, also a film director himself), a driven police inspector on the rise in his career, but consumed by the work and concerns of his own young children as he goes after the main suspect. Marius is not religious and scoffs at flawed fellow officers (one divorced) who do need to cling to faith. But he pursues the case with a fanaticism that threatens to overwhelm him.
It is very much up to the viewer whether a "miracle" has happened in the course of the narrative, which requires the knowledge that what is shown is not entirely to be taken literally. There is an argument here of vengeance vs. forgiveness in the interstitials, or whether the cryptic Cristina (Christ-ina?) achieves martyrdom in her particular passion play.
Familiarity with Romanian culture (and popular music) is best advised here, plus foreknowledge that the picture closely follows the director's earlier crime feature Unidentified (2020)—using the same settings, and is intended as the middle part of an as-yet incomplete trilogy. Romania shown onscreen is not the leaden, drab landscape of so many post-Soviet-socialism laments, but a sun-washed, verdant, and bucolic place—almost Edenic compared to previous Bucharest melodramas.
Buyers should have to note the brief nudity and mature themes, though the meditative tone and pacing are hardly the stuff of exploitation. A solid choice worth considering for foreign-film shelves, especially focused on modern Eastern Europe, though it is quite esoteric for the mainstream.
How can high school teachers or college professors use Bogdan George Apetri's Miracle as an educational resource in a classroom setting?
Bogdan George Apetri's Miracle is a thought-provoking film that could be used in a classroom setting to facilitate discussions on various themes such as religious fundamentalism, free will, and the role of faith in people's lives. The drama film's nuanced exploration of these complex themes could be a starting point for engaging classroom debates and conversations, encouraging students to think critically and examine their own beliefs and values. Additionally, the movie's use of multiple languages and intercultural dialogue could be used to broaden students' understanding of diverse perspectives and cultures.