Hancock

Wanted

The Love Guru

Get Smart

The Incredible Hulk

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Sex and the City

Savage Grace

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Surfwise

What Happens in Vegas

Iron Man

Son of Rambow

Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) must help her friend get an illegal abortion.

You may not bounce out of the theater whistling a happy tune after seeing writer-director Cristian Mungiu's riveting, extraordinary documentary-style drama about an illegal abortion performed in the dark '80 days of Romanian presidential dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu. But you will probably come out of the theater realizing that you've experienced a movie of such nail-biting intensity, command and power that it is nothing less than a masterwork. The film, which won the top prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival, centers on 24 harrowing hours in the lives of two college roommates. Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) is reduced to childlike terror by her pregnancy, leaving her stronger friend Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) to bribe, wheedle and cobble together all the resources it takes to deal with abortion in an oppressed, hemmed-in society.

Otilia and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) find themselves in a dire predicament.

The whole movie is gripping, but especially so when the women encounter the abortionist (played with bone-chilling brilliance by Vlad Ivanov). It's unsentimental, edge-of-the-seat stuff, and all the performances, especially Marinca's, are award-worthy. Mingiu's gift for creating claustrophobia and suspense, let alone empathy for his shattered characters -- without ever seeming forced or pushed -- is nothing less than world class. Seeing 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (the title refers to the exact duration of Gabita's pregnancy), it's hard not to be outraged that, because of an idiotic technicality, it did not win an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, a fate it shares with such other classics as The Seventh Seal, Fitzcarraldo, City of God, Volver, Talk To Her, The Story of Qui Ju and so many more. On the other hand, Norbit is nominated for an Oscar. That ought to tell you something. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is political, intensely personal and easily one of the handful of truly great films in recent memory.

by Stephen Rebello

Photo credit: Mobra Films/Adi Paduretu