''Aferim!'' ('' en, Bravo!'') is a 2015 Romanian
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Radu Jude
Radu Jude (; born 28 March 1977) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.
Biography
In 2003, Jude graduated from the Film Directing Department of the Media University of Bucharest. He worked as an assistant director for feature films inclu ...
and produced by Ada Solomon. It was screened in the main competition section of the
65th Berlin International Film Festival
The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...
where Radu Jude won the
Silver Bear for Best Director
The Silver Bear for Best Director (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Regie) is an award presented annually at the Berlin International Film Festival since 1956. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury ...
. It was selected as the Romanian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
88th Academy Awards
The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Dur ...
.
Plot
The film is set in
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
in the early 19th century, when a local policeman, Costandin played by
Teodor Corban, is hired by Iordache, a
boyar
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...
, to find Carfin played by Toma Cuzin, a
Gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
who had run away from the boyar's estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana.
Cast
*
Victor Rebengiuc
Victor Rebengiuc (; known in full as Victor-George Rebengiuc; born 10 February 1933) is a Romanian film and stage actor, also known as a civil society activist.
Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more th ...
as Stan
*
Luminița Gheorghiu
Luminița Gheorghiu (; 1 September 1949 – 4 July 2021) was a Romanian film actress, and artistic performer in East Central Europe. She achieved international recognition for her roles in ''The Death of Mr. Lazarescu'' (2006) and '' Child's Pose ...
as Smaranda Cîndescu
*
Șerban Pavlu as Traveler
*Toma Cuzin as Carfin Pandolean
*
Gabriel Spahiu
Gabriel Spahiu (; born 21 March 1968) is a Romanian actor. He appeared in more than eighty films since 1998.
Spahiu was also chosen by Sony Pictures Animation to dub Wayne in the animated movies ''Hotel Transylvania'', ''Hotel Transylvania 2
...
as Vasile
*Mihaela Sîrbu as Sultana
*Alexandru Bindea as Priest on the road
*
Teodor Corban as Costandin
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 76 critics, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart, visually arresting, and scathingly funny, Aferim! depicts a world that many American filmgoers have never seen -- but will still, in many respects, find utterly familiar". On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film have an above average score of 84 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Publication ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' describes Radu Jude's film as "a harsh lesson of history, relieved by overlooked humor and classic Western elements". ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' magazine writes that ''Aferim!'' is "an exceptional and extremely intelligent insight into a crucial period of history, a film equally inspired and furious".
According to Jordan Hoffman of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', "this
ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to:
Acronyms
* Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product
* '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1
* Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets
* Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...
with all its full-frontal historical horror, is still loaded with laughs".
A.O. Scott of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called ''Aferim!'' "brilliant" and "sublime", while Kit Gillet of the same periodical went as far as calling it "an Oscar contender".
See also
*
*
*
List of films featuring slavery
Film has been the most influential medium in the presentation of the history of slavery to the general public. The American film industry has had a complex relationship with slavery, and until recent decades often avoided the topic. Films such a ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aferim!
2015 films
2015 Western (genre) films
Romanian drama films
2010s Romanian-language films
Films about slavery
Films directed by Radu Jude
Films set in the Ottoman Empire
Films about Romani people
Films set in the 19th century
Bulgarian drama films
Czech Western (genre) films
French Western (genre) films
2010s French films