Set in 1835 Wallachia, this is a very darkly humorous, grittily realistic 2015 Romanian film, whose western-style plot relates the pursuit of a Romany slave who's fled his thuggish Boyar master, by a bigoted, brutal, rough-hewn, cynical constable and his slightly more enlightened deputy son.
Filmed in stark black and white, with sweeping vistas of the rural landscape, it's structured as a 19th century road movie, and features many encounters along the way with various classes and ethnicities of the multi-ethnic, multi-faith population – most of which involve violent actions and/or words on the part of the central character, and which reveal a bleak picture of casual prejudice, racism (particularly against the subjugated Romany people) and oppression of peasants and minorities.
The film received a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and has won numerous European film industry awards.
An interesting costuming detail for we history buffs is the never explained contrast between the constable's antiquated Turkish-style clothing and his son's more contemporary Russian-style uniform. Presumably this is an attempt to visually represent the dual political influences dominating Romania in this period.
The title is a Turkish word that translates roughly as a sarcastic 'bravo!'
looks at a multi-period building.
