So I rewatched the film yesterday (opinion hasn't changed, I might love it even more now). The way I see the ending is partly as a sign of further escalation of chaos/danger going on in the background. Admittedly it's still hard for me to explain my exact interpretation of the ending although I do find it satisfying. To me it seems like the ending goes in a more fairy-tale like metaphorical direction. Everything gets "wrapped up", but that wrap-up is really just a summary of all the ever-present loose ends in the narrative that won't receive any catharsis. Matthias's wife has left him and taken the child with her, her father threatens to call the police on Matthias after his hostile behavior. The missing immigrant Rauff is still seen running out of fear immediately afterwards; quickly summarizing how this immigrant issue is still just an ever-present unseen background detail in the already all-too complex family lives of these characters who have always been fundamentally disconnected from the immigrant workers (hence why the Sengalese dialogue is the only one never subtitled and why they are not even at all present during the pivotal city hall sequence). Then we see Matthias walking loomingly with a gun in the police office, looking at the immigrants sleeping there and the police officers who are just teaking a leak and acting casually; the implication here being that neither the supposed laws of these police officers or the existence of these immigrants matter at all to Matthias and his traditional ideas of (toxic) masculinity. He is strong, big and can have the utmost power in these situations through sheer force, in his eyes. He is completely indifferent and yet the most clearly dangerous and deranged individual. There's constant building tension with his exclusion from anything; his family doesn't want him, Csilla doesn't want him, he is expected to have an opinion on the immigrant matter but he doesn't at all (the moment he gets mad for being called a gipsy is a moment of xenophobia against him, but with him representing the archetype of the typical macho Romanian father, he's likely not the type of person to feel positively about "gypsies" (Romani) in general and would fundamentally see that association as an insult), and then finally his father hangs himself and he is all alone in the world. He finally goes to Csilla's house and threatens to shoot her. She's apologizing in desperation out of either his father dying or leaving him behind entirely. He wants to shoot her but is then propelled to shoot at the bears appearing behind her instead. The bears tie back to the French man (symbolizing the West) counting the bear population in Transylvania. I can't interpret the bears in just one way. Maybe it's a symbol of the persistent influence of the west on Romania that is ever-present but feels like a constant threat on the community, always looming in the dark woods where it's not seen, yet everyone knows it's there because "everyone lives near the woods". At the same time the bears look fake, they're costumes that call back to the earlier traditional carnaval scene in which the villagers sing songs about the mighty Dacians from Romanian history. So maybe at the same time the bears represent the traditional values of this community, looming dangerously in the woods, taking sheep away one by one. Maybe it's supposed to be a double meaning, the west and the east coalescing, both values fighting and destroying each other. After that we get the final shot of Matthias and the town in the background, the church visible in the frame; it's the end of the film and now we have a clear idea of this town, but now it's entirely shrouded in darkness for the first time, this is the M.R.I. scan of this town and this country. The movie is dense and seems unfocused but it really is just something that deals with a lot and connects things that don't inherently seem to connect and that makes sense. There's a sickness in this community and it is decaying. It seems like the globalization of the world is causing it to decay, but as shown with the toxic character of Matthias, this place was already decaying under its own values. It's a very apocalyptic film I feel but I'm already rambling too much and might not sound coherent. Took a while to write this, I hope it satisfies somewhat
Wow. What can I say... Thank you so much for your effort. You are amazing. My thoughts actually were close with yours but you made it more clear for me. Such a great movie! Anyways. I ll difinitely give you a sub and I ll support your future videos and work. Thank you so much again!!
@@dankthomas2878 i appreciate your time to write this ... i think the bears were lurking around her house to harm her for being around all those immigrants/strangers as they did threaten her and were so rude to the French guy about the bears matter ... still don't get what scared the child ... i know he said he saw a hanged man but in the same time sounded like no one reported it or any heard of so hi father thought he was seeing things ... then when his father hanged him self the child started talking again and the only thing he said i love you father?! i'd like to hear your point of view about that ... the sheeps loss i guess the group of bears/crazy gang of the villagers are responsible of ... still what confused the most was the implication of the appearance of the 3rd immigrant and then going to see the other ones but i guess it's more to show a psychological atmosphere as you explained
@@DemonOnEarth86 Only real explanation I can come up with for the child is just the general kind of vague aura of fantasy/"supernatural" the film carries around. Maybe the kid saw a prophecy that that man would die but didn't realize it was something that hadn't happened yet, but that all sounds a bit too literal - probably more likely that it's line with the apocalyptic tone or "everything slowly breaking" where the kids will be the first ones to see the signs of collapse in the world around them when all the adults in the meantime will be more in their heads arguing over any perceived social issue and strongly holding onto their own pre-conceived ideas and conceptions. As far as why the kid would say he loves his dad, I dunno (wasn't exactly a super well-performed moment either), it was probably just this instant feeling he had where he really needed protection from what he was witnessing
overall a good/fair review but I think it is a specifically Romanian film and not merely European. Also the topic is not, in my opinion, just about xenophobia or restricted to this particular village, it is about the specific subject of Transylvanian ethnic issues. I agree with you about the filming aspects and cinematography but the sound recording is not as good as it could be. I agree a second viewing will be good.
Thanks for taking the time to watch/comment! Didn't mean to imply the topic is restricted to a village, because in a same way it isn't restricted to just a village in The White Ribbon either; the subtext just wasn't something I felt like mentioning when I wrote in the review as I was going more so for my initial reactions upon seeing it. Didn't notice anything bad about the sound design myself. Thanks for the feedback though! I don't review films very often but I could try to be a bit more specific the next time I do
@@pinkasarp2250 I generally tend to like Romanian new wave. From Porumboiu I really loved A fost sau n-a fost and thought Police, Adjective was good also, Death of Mr. Lazarescu by Cristi Puiu was pretty good. From last year I enjoyed Întregalde a lot and would consider Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn to be one of the very very best films of 2021
Mulțumesc! I just watched it today. a couple of hours ago in fact, in a cinema here in 🇮🇩 . since most people here don't understand Romanian nor Hungarian, the multiculturalism probably didn't come through as much for most of they. I happen to understand German and some Romanian, which is why I was able to know everytime they're speaking Hungarian. also it was frankly quite a surprise for I to hear German there. I really enjoyed the film, although never once did I associate it with a horror film. 😅 I didn't understand the ending though. I'm still scratching my head when I think about it..
Thanks for the comment! I did feel it was kinda horror-y coming on the verge of having had seen several atmospheric horror films in theaters before watching R.M.N. and finding ways in which they were similar in tone. I feel like the ending was supposed to signify a sense of foreboding danger (that apocalyptic feel i was talking about) that is out of any character's individual control, in terms of the concepts of xenophobia and dark history being looming things that can't be solved or ignored. It was this weird, confusing as well as very unnatural/unsafe thing that the world of the film gets concluded on. Definitely need to watch the film a second time to get a better take on it but it is interesting. Glad you enjoyed the film!
I didn’t understand the ending … felt lost right after people went out of the hall to the wood … anyone care to explain
I've responded with an explanation for it to someone else in the comments section
Não entendi o final
Hey due to I watch it and didnt understand that much of the ending can you give us your optical view and your explanation about the end. Thank you.
So I rewatched the film yesterday (opinion hasn't changed, I might love it even more now). The way I see the ending is partly as a sign of further escalation of chaos/danger going on in the background. Admittedly it's still hard for me to explain my exact interpretation of the ending although I do find it satisfying. To me it seems like the ending goes in a more fairy-tale like metaphorical direction. Everything gets "wrapped up", but that wrap-up is really just a summary of all the ever-present loose ends in the narrative that won't receive any catharsis.
Matthias's wife has left him and taken the child with her, her father threatens to call the police on Matthias after his hostile behavior. The missing immigrant Rauff is still seen running out of fear immediately afterwards; quickly summarizing how this immigrant issue is still just an ever-present unseen background detail in the already all-too complex family lives of these characters who have always been fundamentally disconnected from the immigrant workers (hence why the Sengalese dialogue is the only one never subtitled and why they are not even at all present during the pivotal city hall sequence). Then we see Matthias walking loomingly with a gun in the police office, looking at the immigrants sleeping there and the police officers who are just teaking a leak and acting casually; the implication here being that neither the supposed laws of these police officers or the existence of these immigrants matter at all to Matthias and his traditional ideas of (toxic) masculinity. He is strong, big and can have the utmost power in these situations through sheer force, in his eyes. He is completely indifferent and yet the most clearly dangerous and deranged individual. There's constant building tension with his exclusion from anything; his family doesn't want him, Csilla doesn't want him, he is expected to have an opinion on the immigrant matter but he doesn't at all (the moment he gets mad for being called a gipsy is a moment of xenophobia against him, but with him representing the archetype of the typical macho Romanian father, he's likely not the type of person to feel positively about "gypsies" (Romani) in general and would fundamentally see that association as an insult), and then finally his father hangs himself and he is all alone in the world. He finally goes to Csilla's house and threatens to shoot her. She's apologizing in desperation out of either his father dying or leaving him behind entirely. He wants to shoot her but is then propelled to shoot at the bears appearing behind her instead. The bears tie back to the French man (symbolizing the West) counting the bear population in Transylvania.
I can't interpret the bears in just one way. Maybe it's a symbol of the persistent influence of the west on Romania that is ever-present but feels like a constant threat on the community, always looming in the dark woods where it's not seen, yet everyone knows it's there because "everyone lives near the woods". At the same time the bears look fake, they're costumes that call back to the earlier traditional carnaval scene in which the villagers sing songs about the mighty Dacians from Romanian history. So maybe at the same time the bears represent the traditional values of this community, looming dangerously in the woods, taking sheep away one by one. Maybe it's supposed to be a double meaning, the west and the east coalescing, both values fighting and destroying each other. After that we get the final shot of Matthias and the town in the background, the church visible in the frame; it's the end of the film and now we have a clear idea of this town, but now it's entirely shrouded in darkness for the first time, this is the M.R.I. scan of this town and this country.
The movie is dense and seems unfocused but it really is just something that deals with a lot and connects things that don't inherently seem to connect and that makes sense. There's a sickness in this community and it is decaying. It seems like the globalization of the world is causing it to decay, but as shown with the toxic character of Matthias, this place was already decaying under its own values. It's a very apocalyptic film I feel but I'm already rambling too much and might not sound coherent. Took a while to write this, I hope it satisfies somewhat
Wow. What can I say... Thank you so much for your effort. You are amazing. My thoughts actually were close with yours but you made it more clear for me. Such a great movie! Anyways. I ll difinitely give you a sub and I ll support your future videos and work. Thank you so much again!!
@@NikosAmanatidis-o6t thank you for the support!
@@dankthomas2878 i appreciate your time to write this ... i think the bears were lurking around her house to harm her for being around all those immigrants/strangers as they did threaten her and were so rude to the French guy about the bears matter ... still don't get what scared the child ... i know he said he saw a hanged man but in the same time sounded like no one reported it or any heard of so hi father thought he was seeing things ... then when his father hanged him self the child started talking again and the only thing he said i love you father?! i'd like to hear your point of view about that ... the sheeps loss i guess the group of bears/crazy gang of the villagers are responsible of ... still what confused the most was the implication of the appearance of the 3rd immigrant and then going to see the other ones but i guess it's more to show a psychological atmosphere as you explained
@@DemonOnEarth86 Only real explanation I can come up with for the child is just the general kind of vague aura of fantasy/"supernatural" the film carries around. Maybe the kid saw a prophecy that that man would die but didn't realize it was something that hadn't happened yet, but that all sounds a bit too literal - probably more likely that it's line with the apocalyptic tone or "everything slowly breaking" where the kids will be the first ones to see the signs of collapse in the world around them when all the adults in the meantime will be more in their heads arguing over any perceived social issue and strongly holding onto their own pre-conceived ideas and conceptions. As far as why the kid would say he loves his dad, I dunno (wasn't exactly a super well-performed moment either), it was probably just this instant feeling he had where he really needed protection from what he was witnessing
do u letterboxd?
I do! letterboxd.com/thomaseremia/
overall a good/fair review but I think it is a specifically Romanian film and not merely European. Also the topic is not, in my opinion, just about xenophobia or restricted to this particular village, it is about the specific subject of Transylvanian ethnic issues. I agree with you about the filming aspects and cinematography but the sound recording is not as good as it could be. I agree a second viewing will be good.
Thanks for taking the time to watch/comment! Didn't mean to imply the topic is restricted to a village, because in a same way it isn't restricted to just a village in The White Ribbon either; the subtext just wasn't something I felt like mentioning when I wrote in the review as I was going more so for my initial reactions upon seeing it. Didn't notice anything bad about the sound design myself. Thanks for the feedback though! I don't review films very often but I could try to be a bit more specific the next time I do
@@dankthomas2878 yes I would like to know your thoughts regarding other Romanian New Wave Films, Porumboiu, Puiu etc.
@@pinkasarp2250 I generally tend to like Romanian new wave. From Porumboiu I really loved A fost sau n-a fost and thought Police, Adjective was good also, Death of Mr. Lazarescu by Cristi Puiu was pretty good. From last year I enjoyed Întregalde a lot and would consider Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn to be one of the very very best films of 2021
Mulțumesc!
I just watched it today. a couple of hours ago in fact, in a cinema here in 🇮🇩 .
since most people here don't understand Romanian nor Hungarian, the multiculturalism probably didn't come through as much for most of they.
I happen to understand German and some Romanian, which is why I was able to know everytime they're speaking Hungarian. also it was frankly quite a surprise for I to hear German there.
I really enjoyed the film, although never once did I associate it with a horror film. 😅
I didn't understand the ending though.
I'm still scratching my head when I think about it..
Thanks for the comment! I did feel it was kinda horror-y coming on the verge of having had seen several atmospheric horror films in theaters before watching R.M.N. and finding ways in which they were similar in tone. I feel like the ending was supposed to signify a sense of foreboding danger (that apocalyptic feel i was talking about) that is out of any character's individual control, in terms of the concepts of xenophobia and dark history being looming things that can't be solved or ignored. It was this weird, confusing as well as very unnatural/unsafe thing that the world of the film gets concluded on. Definitely need to watch the film a second time to get a better take on it but it is interesting. Glad you enjoyed the film!