Aferim!

Aferim!

If I told you that the new film “Aferim!” is set in the 19th century and features a pair of bounty hunters who travel around looking for an escaped slave, you’d be forgiven for assuming it took place in the United States during those dark years before the Emancipation Proclamation and treats our country’s greatest shame as another lurid exposé. But this intelligent and sometimes quite powerful drama is set in Romania.

And while that may sound like the middle of nowhere, what happens when one group of people decides to treat another group as property not to mention how they try to justify it to themselves and their underlings is unfortunately universal enough to remain depressingly current more than two centuries later.

The movie takes place in Wallachia (transferred back and forth between Ottomans, Russians, etc.) in 1835, where the Romani people, or gypsies (as a rule), were freely bought and sold as slaves. When we meet him, Costandin (Teodor Corban) is a blowhard local constable who has been hired by one of his bosses local landowners are essentially feudal lords here to find and bring back Carfin (Toma Cuzin), a slave who allegedly stole money from them before running away.

Along with his teenage son Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu), he beats, humiliates and otherwise mistreats any peasant or Roma he comes across in order to get information about Carfin’s whereabouts; eventually they track him down at an old couple’s house but also take off with a young Roma runaway named Tintiric (Alberto Dinache).

Carfin is in fact not the subhuman slave that Costandin thinks all Roma are he tells stories of his travels to Paris, Vienna and Leipzig in the hope that Costandin will find it in his heart to let him go. When this fails Carfin then reveals that the reason he fled was because he was caught having sex with his master’s wife not only that, it was she who did most of the seducing and if he is taken back, his master will almost certainly kill him in revenge.

Though this makes Ionita have doubts about their mission, Costandin pooh-poohs these concerns and promises both Carfin and his son that as a constable he has much power which he can use for ensuring that Carfin only gets beaten but nothing more.

Unfortunately when they arrive at Carfin’s owner (Alexandru Dabija), they find out that not only does Alexandru Dabija have a punishment waiting for Carfin which could be considered worse than death but also when compared to people with real power who don’t hesitate using it, what Alexandru Dabija does not worry even slightly about Costandin’s perceived power and influence. (By the way “Aferim” is an Ottoman Turkish word meaning “bravo!” and its usage here is highly ironic.)

“Aferim!” marks Radu Jude’s third feature as director; I cannot say I am familiar with his former works (“The Happiest Girl in the World,” “Everybody in Our Family”), but there is no denying skill behind camera exhibited by him on this film.

He and co-writer Florin Lazarescu tell a story never before seen on screen (only one other movie according to IMDb has dealt with issue of Roma slavery before this one & was made 1923 silent picture now lost forever) but through meticulous research have created narrative which while not based around any single incident nevertheless contains enough moments of universal human truth ranging from tangible rage (directed mainly towards the clergy, many of whom were themselves owners of Roma slaves) through to biting dark comedy (such as scene involving priest who lets loose with string racial and ethnic jibes that even cheerfully racist Costandin finds a little too much) to give it an authenticity missing from most recent docudramas.

As director, Jude gets fine performances out his three leads and has made with aid cameraman Marius Panduru a film that is unusually beautiful to look at (shot in widescreen 35mm black & white which occasionally recalls simple majesty classic Westerns).

To make a complaint about “Aferim!”, it would be that Jude does not tell us anything about this period of Romanian history before starting the narrative (there’s just a title card that says “Wallachia 1835”). You can pick up enough along the way, but maybe some more historical context would have been useful for those of us who don’t know much about this time and place.

But then again, maybe what Jude is saying is that where and when his story happens doesn’t matter what matters is understanding that people have always shown unimaginable cruelty to each other because of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or nationality; all over the world; and still do. At one point in the film Costandin asks if anyone will ever remember or care about all the things he did in 200 years’ time? And sadly yes they will, as “Aferim!” makes abundantly clear.

Watch Aferim! For Free On Gomovies.