Aferim!

I think it's almost impossible for someone who is not a Romanian speaker to really get most of the dialog in this movie. There are a lot of archaic words and expressions from funny to sad or contemplative that are for sure lost in translation. I am a Romanian, born and raised in this country, and I didn't understand 30-35 % of the words. I have to see it again with subtitles on to fully appreciate the mesmerizing Wallachian dialect. It's a great movie nonetheless, with beautiful cinematography and solid performances from the actors, so I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to see how life was 200 years ago in Romania.

Being based on lots of writings from that era, I suppose that this movie reflects a fair image of life in Tara Romaneasca (Wallachia) of the 19th Century, with its' patterns and prejudices. It probably does some justice to today's Romani, when Europe encounters them again and there is no narrative to explain who their ancestors were. And maybe it does some justice to today's Romanians too, when the European public finds out what is the distinction between Romanians and Romani.

The movie can evoke amusement, disapproval, empathy. However, the spectator discovers more and more that comedy turns to tragedy.

I appreciate the fact that Aferim has complex characters that are not entirely positive or negative.

Indeed, you have to know the 19th century background of Romania, however it portraits it in a very good manner: the atmosphere of the epoch and the subject is dealt with in depth! It seems that we already saw this movie (or its subject)with other slaves (mostly black people in other countries endorsing slavery)however this one is a special case.All actors are excellent and the black and white colors intensify the dramatic aspects (wonderful forest takes!). I am lucky to know modern Romanian, because the dialog is very important, revealing the behavior, tradition and prejudices of the time (that in some areas of the country are still there...)far away from so called "politically correctness" endorsed in the western culture!(watch the priest opinion about different nations, especially the Jews!). In relation to dialogue, the last sentences of the father to his shocked son are an excellent example of how most of the people behave in face of horrors and injustice!

I'm of Romanian descent, so I'm not entirely objective on this, but as far as film can actually change perceptions of how we see the world around us, "Aferim" is without a doubt an unmatched masterpiece and an absolute first in many ways.

It's a rare Romanian historical drama set before the 20th century (with the exception of historical biopics of communist era). It's thematically a Western (or Eastern), since it involves a long journey on horseback, strongly and intentionally recalling "The Searchers". Most importantly, it's an endless series of interchanges with representatives of society back then, by which virtually every social problem of the present day is touched.

The genius of this film is that it follows a timeline, through which the spectator is at times bemused and at times horrified by the behavior of the main protagonist, a constable charged with capturing a runaway slave accompanied by his inept son. In a thoroughly realistic way unlike any historical film I have ever seen, we see him treat priests and nobles with respect and peasants and Roma with indifferent cruelty. Sometimes he shows a conscience, as when bonding with his son or asking the slave owner for clemency upon returning him. Sometimes he is shockingly ruthless, like when he sells a Rom boy they also picked up to a passing noble because he wants to afford drinking and whoring.

Not only is this the first portrayal of slavery in Romania, a topic not taught in schools and therefore quite controversial. It is a completely naturalistic portrayal as well, unlike any emotionally charged tales out of Hollywood. It easily beats the credibility of "12 Years a Slave", because Jude maintains a sardonic, matter-of-fact narrative instead of drenching his film in moral lessons about the nature of good and evil. Teodor Corban delivers his cop character as a product of his times, with no judgment or exoneration of his actions. If there is one slight weakness at all, it's that the dialogues are sometimes very fast and probably very difficult to translate. As a Romanian raised abroad, I found myself guessing at roughly half of the vocabulary, and even though I got most of the irony, I would not know how to explain it to foreigners and keep the meaning intact.

"Aferim!" means "Excellent!" as a Turkish exclamation (recalling that Wallachia at he time was a vassal to the Ottoman Empire - when the constable sends a Turkish carriage the wrong way to spite the Turks, this is how his son praises him. So the title perfectly describes the film in one word - a tale of a time when the ignorant hated everyone else, not realizing how similar they were. When the privileged few treated the abject poor as mere objects, aided by the apathy of commoners, who could not imagine any alternative. This horror mixed with irony resonated strongly with audiences, and would certainly justify a foreign language Oscar next year.

Set in 1835 in Walachia, Romania, we meet Consatndin who is a Constable – he is accompanied by his eager but less effective son – Ionita. They are chasing an escaped slave, this is a Roma man who has stolen money and run away from a Boyar (who has the most impressive hat imaginable).

Along the way the two men come across many more Roma – whom they refer to as 'Crows' (because crows are black) and treat them like the underclass they believe them to be. They also run into a number of other – less than savoury – characters including the World's most xenophobic Priest. What follows is story that can be seen as comedic, harrowing and at times almost bewildering in its depiction of what times were like. The enslavement of the Roma is a subject rarely mentioned and so this is groundbreaking in many ways.

It is filmed in black and white and is lit in such a way to make this seem many years older than it is, Director Radu Jude said this is a western and did a lot to evoke the early westerns in theme and composure of the story, but he has also created a film that is unique too. There is violence here and scenes that some may find upsetting but it is just an amazing watch. Languages are Romanian, Turkish and Roma with OK sub titles to be fair. The title 'Aferim' means 'bravo' in Turkish and as the Romanians hated the Ottoman Empire it is ironic that they use this word as a form of praise – but that is intentional. Nominated for the 88th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film I feel this is in with rather a big chance and is a film that I can absolutely recommend to all World cinema fans.