Spring Break
Reel Leadership program has real impact on viewers
Catherine Felegi
Issue date: 3/19/09 Section: News
Moravian College's Reel Leadership program showcased the movie, "4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni Si 2 Zile," or "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" for their dinner-and-a-movie discussion. The movie talked about the main characters, Gabita and Otilia, who seek out an illegal abortion in Bucharest, Romania, in 1987.
"4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni Si 2 Zile" won seven awards, including the Cannes Palme d'Or Winner in 2007. It made its premier in Italy August 24, 2007.
Professor Claudia Mesa, Foreign Assistant Professor of Spanish and leader of the dialogue, explains, "[the movie] was not intended for the Leadership dialogue… We do, every year, an international film festival… It was a movie that might make students think about abortion in a different context."
According to the sheet that Mesa passed out to the students to help spur discussion, the movie reaches beyond illegal abortion. It instead focuses on the friend of the girl who gets the abortion, Gabita.
It states, "The film is not just about abortion, but about the female body and how it's coded by its gender and its social status on the class spectrum."
The film takes place under the Communist regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu made abortion illegal in 1966, one year after his instatement. In 1989, after the Massacre of Timisora on December 16, Ceausescu was captured on December 25 and later executed by a firing squad. Writer and director Cristian Mungiu took advantage of the situation and created the film.
The film was acclaimed by the New York Times and other critics. Mesa explains, "It gives you a fictional account of a social and political phenomenon that was actually happening in Romania during Ceausescu."
"Some students were very shocked… [It brought] critical attention."
The film also does not press a certain opinion on the viewer. Its average display of life, dull colors and lack of music makes it realistic and strives to show everything as it would truly happen instead of using flashy film-making skills.
"4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni Si 2 Zile" won seven awards, including the Cannes Palme d'Or Winner in 2007. It made its premier in Italy August 24, 2007.
Professor Claudia Mesa, Foreign Assistant Professor of Spanish and leader of the dialogue, explains, "[the movie] was not intended for the Leadership dialogue… We do, every year, an international film festival… It was a movie that might make students think about abortion in a different context."
According to the sheet that Mesa passed out to the students to help spur discussion, the movie reaches beyond illegal abortion. It instead focuses on the friend of the girl who gets the abortion, Gabita.
It states, "The film is not just about abortion, but about the female body and how it's coded by its gender and its social status on the class spectrum."
The film takes place under the Communist regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu made abortion illegal in 1966, one year after his instatement. In 1989, after the Massacre of Timisora on December 16, Ceausescu was captured on December 25 and later executed by a firing squad. Writer and director Cristian Mungiu took advantage of the situation and created the film.
The film was acclaimed by the New York Times and other critics. Mesa explains, "It gives you a fictional account of a social and political phenomenon that was actually happening in Romania during Ceausescu."
"Some students were very shocked… [It brought] critical attention."
The film also does not press a certain opinion on the viewer. Its average display of life, dull colors and lack of music makes it realistic and strives to show everything as it would truly happen instead of using flashy film-making skills.
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