Romania, 1987, the brutal Ceausescu communist regime is in place; birth control is illegal and abortion is a crime punishable by death. Gabita (Laura Vasliu) is almost five months into an unwanted pregnancy and in meek desperation turns to her friend and roommate, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) for help in organizing an illegal termination. Unfortunate circumstances force the two women to use an unwanted male abortionist, Bebe (Vlad Ivanov). The bleakness of the storyline expresses a dark socio-political critique in the twilight years of a repressive dictatorship.
Cristian Mungiu
Stars
Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov.
Foreign viewers not familiar with the situation in Romania in the late 1980s may be unaware that not only abortion was illegal there, but contraception as well. In an effort to increase the dwindling population, the dictatorial Communist regime had issued Decree 770 in 1967 which put a ban on not only abortion but also contraceptive medicine. The women in the beginning of the film are obtaining their contraceptive pills illegally through the black market, as well as luxury products like soap and cigarettes.
The 2008 Oscar winner in the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category at the 80th Academy Awards was an Austria's movie, an entry much criticized as conventional and artistically inferior to Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner.
Subs: English & Portuguese.
The audio is in Romanian, which is much closer to Portuguese and Spanish.
YouTube movie link: https://youtu.be/L0wSNV9K4lc
Movie copyright blocked only in Spain.
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