4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [HD]

Some background info
I think there are some facts that people not familiar with Romanian history need to know in order to better understand the movie. Since the Ceausescu's goal was to increase the population, not only the abortion was illegal but the contraception was also non-existent. Young people were also not educated in family planning at all. Occasionally one could buy contraceptive pills from dubious sources on the black market, but overall, besides using the calendar method (highly unreliable for many women), the abortion was the immediate mean to avoid an unplanned pregnancy.
The movie is excellent and there is no need for spoilers however, since people will react accordingly depending on their stance toward abortion, I think it is important to mention that abortion was not illegal on moral grounds. It was a state policy to increase the population which made contraception and family planning education also illegal or at least non-existent.
Ironically, statistics showed that the...

What A Difference A Day Makes
Some films are able to dazzle you without the use of special effects, big Hollywood stars and nudity. They manage to crawl under your skin and get inside you. They leave an indeliable mark on you. Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile)" is such a film. And easily one of the best films of 2007!

Whatever the reason, currently Romanian is a hot property. People and critics are just buzzing with excitement about what is going on in Romanian cinema. And even though I'm not Romanian (I'm Hungarian) I'm pretty excited about it too.

In 2006 there was the release of "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu", besides "4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile", also released in 2007 was "12:08 East of Bucharest". These three films seem to be part of a new wave in Romanian film. Each takes on modern day society while questioning the past. All three are confrontational.

"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" takes place during a 24 hour period in which...

The Unhollywood
What if it was true?

Almost no one would answer the question on what would happen if abortions WERE outlawed by the State. Would we jail the women? Kill the abortionists? It's out of the question in a civilized nation. Right? Well... not exactly. Communist Romania did outlaw abortion during the 70's and 80's. The reasons were not exactly humanitarian but the end result was that early abortions were punished with a few years in prison and late term abortions, past the 4th month were treated as murders. This is the telling of a (possibly true) story from those years. It's an illustration of what we here, in the States, like to call a `back alley abortion'. The back alley, in this case, is a hotel room, a rather decent one.

The visual environment and the way characters interact are consistent with Romania's impoverished status back in 1987 - there's little color, little hope, few lights at night, little joy. The few extras we see are shown as small, disoriented,...

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