Beyond The Hills / Dupa dealuri (2012)

Religious superstition is a part and parcel of everyday life in any and every society around the world. Despite economic growth, despite the wide use of technology, and despite the global enthusiasm to study ‘science’ and medicine, we still believe in religious superstition. This is especially strong in Indian societies. Even though Indian parents, who are engineers or doctors or IT professionals, want their children to pursue a career in science and medicine, they still put the odd flower petal from the foot of the gods and goddesses into their pockets before any exam. Religious superstition is still a part of our life even though we fail to notice them.

Beyond The Hills draws our attention to such religious superstitions. Narrating the story of two girls’ encounter with religion and religious superstition, which leads to the death of one, it makes us more sensitive to our society. Deaths caused due to religious superstition are not unique to Romanian society but is widely prevalent in almost every society – just that they are not that widely publicized. In India, people in the rural areas, and sometimes even in the urban areas, are often drawn to religion to provide solution to their problems and these solutions often lead to death or serious health hazards. Religious godmen are quite prevalent in Indian societies, who look upon any illness or misfortune as an act of a spirit! They perform various rituals, some barbaric, that often leads to death, maiming or serious health hazard. One of the very common methods of getting rid of illness, as used by these godmen, is to sprinkle the person with boiling oil and thrashing him/her with a stick!

When I saw this movie, I could easily associate myself with the narrative and the characters. It seemed that I was seeing my own society being depicted on the screen – just in a different language! This brilliant movie deals with a real social issue – a controversial issue as most societies suppress such deaths to protect their image, to show that they are developed. Christian Mungiu has cleverly portrayed this issue without directly attacking religion or religious belief, but has focused our attention solely on the issue of religious superstition. Without any sub-plots to distract our attention and with a simple and strong narrative, the movie touches our hearts, irrespective of geographical location. Cosmina Stratus and Christina Flutur, two fresh faces, deliver a powerful acting that brings the story to life and they deserve the Best Actress award they received at the Cannes Film Festival.

Though many call this movie disturbing, this movie has made me think. This movie makes me feel that my society is not the only one that suffers from the ill effects of religious superstition in this age of technology but there are others. This gives us courage to accept these social evils and address them at a public level instead of just shoving them beneath the carpet just to look modern. Beyond The Hills has a massive international appeal and is a movie that I would ask everyone to watch.