I’m not sure exactly how far you can read into a nation’s state of mind based on films alone but, after Radu Jude’s 2023 satire Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Emanuel Parvu’s Three Kilometres to the End of the World marks the second time in as many years that Romania’s highest international profile film of the year has an apocalyptic title. After watching Parvu’s effectively grim and dour drama, though, you might find that judgement day focus makes more sense – through this film’s eyes, Romania looks pretty doomed, defined by corruption, bigotry, and a pathological inability to be rational.
Set in a village in the rural Danube Delta, Three Kilometres… centres on Adrian (Chiprian Chiujdea), or Adi, a 17 year old boy who spends most of his time at school in the nearby city of Tulcea, but is at home for the holidays when he is attacked and badly beaten by two local teens. His dad (Bogdan Dumitrache) is distraught, thinking that his debt to a local, well-connected gangster has been passed on to his son, so the police are immediately involved, but the father’s shame at himself for his destitution is soon hideously thrown over to Adi himself when the real reason for Adi’s beating is revealed – he was caught kissing another boy.
As soon as homophobia is allowed to enter the equation, everything else fades. Adi’s dad is furious, his deeply religious mum (Laura Vasiliu) distraught, the local priest (Adrian Titieni) involved, and the local lightly corrupt police wanting nothing more to do with the case. A festering hate grows within everyone, not least Adi, and Parvu’s slow and deliberate introductions to everyone in town does a great job of setting the stage for a situation where every possible outcome is a tragedy.
Oftentimes, a Film Like This (worthy European ‘issues’ drama) can be rather meandering and repetitive, but Parvu keeps his plot ticking along with some solid momentum, pushing us towards his centrepiece scenes. The most remarkable and upsetting of these is an exorcism of sorts in which Adi’s own parents tie him up while the priest attempts to pray the homosexuality out of him. It’s a maddening insight into the backwards injustices still tolerated in rural Europe’s more overlooked areas – the characters of Three Kilometres…, aside from Adi and his friend Ilinca (Ingrid Berescu), are all absolute peasant-mindset yokels, their intelligence ranking somewhere around the ‘barely sentient’ range.
It’s a grim, dim world to stay a part of, and one that does stop being interesting after a while as you discover that each and every adult in this village is essentially identical, not helped by the mostly bland performances from the cast, and Parvu’s formal minimalism, all cinema verité-style shots and a very limited soundscape. It never gets actually boring, but I did feel I had rather seen all Three Kilometres… had to offer quite a while before the credits rolled.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 