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‘R.M.N.’ Review: A Bleak Diagnosis for Romania

Deep within “RMN,” the anatomy of the human condition, this powerhouse of cinema becomes deeper, creepier, and unsettlingly relatable. At that point, dozens of Romanian villagers gathered at a makeshift town hall. The crammed attendees—lovers, family, friends, neighbors—people you know and sometimes like, rabble their problems with the newly arrived foreign workers. The townspeople are suspicious, resentful, ridiculous, violent, and explosively bigoted. They are terrifying too.

I call the movie Anatomy, and this scene is closer to anatomy. Writer-director Christian Mungiu exposes the absurdity of this political body, the so-called Concerned Citizens, in a seamless effort of about 15 minutes, exposing their grievances, prejudices and tribal affiliations. Some attendees speak (and scream) in Romanian, others in Hungarian. A French visitor — an NGO conservationist and an iconic representative of the European Union — blows away some conciliatory sentiments, but is dismissed scornfully. The people did not speak for peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights.

It’s dark, not surprising. But Mungiu’s touch is so deft, his filmmaking so vibrant, and the villagers so funny (even scary!) that you don’t want to be dragged down or punished for their ugliness. Never. A towering figure in the Romanian new wave, Munju is a tough and unforgiving filmmaker, but not the kind of scolding or precept that offers a very obvious life lesson about the fear of others. is not. He is interested in why and how humans move. But he’s a skeptic rather than a cynic, and his approach is diagnostic rather than moral, giving you leeway to accommodate his work on your terms.

“RMN” is set in motion by Matthias (Marin Grigolet), a giant beast that stalks the film like a menace. After a short prologue, it opens with him working in a meat processing plant in Germany. There, amidst the bleating of soon-to-be-slaughtered sheep, he proves he’s an apex predator by headbutting an intrusive manager who cynically calls him a gypsy. When the other workers raise the alarm, he flees, then gets in his car back. town in transylvania, a village surrounded by mountains about 250 miles from Bucharest. He returns with his watchful wife and his young son, and follows his ex-lover to bed.

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