Bortom bergen

Beyond the Hills

...has a rich understanding of the appeals and perils of religious values that provide structure and meaning to some while seeming cruel and irrational to outsiders.

Ably acted, vividly photographed and laudably even-handed.

...an agonising, mysterious movie...

...director Cristian Mungiu's embellishment of a true story (from the "non-fiction novels" by Tatiana Niculescu Bran) ultimately laments superstition, ignorance and indifference.

...it's Mungiu's staging and compositional skill that lends the material its true sense of dawning dread, climaxing in a final few shots that piercingly lay out both Voichita's personal trapped-between-two-worlds hell...