By chance, I am watching this on Mother's Day. I make no apologies.

This film contains three stunning moments of sacrifice (well, more, really, but three that stood out). The first is when Otilia sleeps with the abortionist for Gabita (who then also sleeps with him). It's a disgusting moment, as the man forces a woman in a moment of pure vulnerability to pleasure him, despite being entirely off-camera. It's the most gut-churning moment of the entire film. It's also the moment that makes it clear how the anti-abortion laws fully put women at the power of men, making it as sleazy and direct as possible.

The second moment is when Otilia goes to her boyfriend's house, despite her awful…

After the fall of Communism in 1989 Romania and a decade of struggle that followed due to the post-revolution aftereffects, a new breed of filmmakers started what soon turned out to be the resurgence of Romanian films that has since impressed the critics & viewers around the world over the course of the new millennium. And leading this cinematic wave and the most notable testament to Romania’s renaissance & steady prominence in today’s film world is none other than director Cristian Mungiu’s sociopolitical drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days which not only qualifies as arguably the finest film that Romanian film industry has offered us so far but is also one of its decade’s most accomplished, powerful & haunting works of cinematic…

Abortion is horrible, but so is policing women's bodies. Mungiu knows where he stands, but his film lends the impression of a cruel atmosphere where pro-life exists under the insidious creep of an Orwellian state, and pro-choice is visualized in the most graphic, heartless and unrepentant of details. Fuck both sides. Fuck the anti-abortion side that takes no consideration for a woman's autonomy and bodily rights AND fuck the reality of any pulverized fetus that feels pain as it flees from the very process of mutilation. Both sides are ugly. Mungiu’s film lets you ponder the horror regardless of whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice because at the end of the day, women are the victims of a totalitarian state AND…

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a tale of friendship challenged by circumstances. Set in Romania during the Decree 770 era, when abortion was illegal, the film presents a series of difficult decisions made by a pregnant woman and her friend. Their situation is vulnerable, opening them up to exploitation and blackmail, with additional risks of physical harm and potential imprisonment. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is bravely straightforward and uncompromising, made in a matter in fact manner mostly consisting of long takes. Nothing feels melodramatic. Instead the world presented feels very real, filled with little details. Abortion restrictions become a microcosm of broader restrictions on life. Characters do not have freedom, and the economic and…