MORGEN screens at this year's Copenhagen film festival... Let's hear it for Romanian cinema!

This definitely seems to be a year full of films about the ever increasing global situation of international border crossing… from ‘For A Moment, Freedom’ (2009, Iran) to ‘Illegal’ (2010, Belgium) to ‘The Albanian’ (2010, Germany) and the internationally award-winning film 'Morgen’ (2010, Romania) by director Marian Crisan. While each film shows its unique and gripping personal story, ‘Morgen’ surprises through its expressive simplicity.

Question: What do you get when you mix ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ (USA, 1987) and ‘The Visitor’ (USA, 2007), minus all sex and violence? Answer: Something a little bit like ‘Morgen’ (2010, Romania) by Romanian director Marian Crisan, but also totally different. Unfortunately, I missed seeing this film when it screened at TIFF (2010 Thessaloniki Film Festival) where it ran in competition this last December. Hence, my writing about it now as I have only just finished screening the film, still listening to the haunting A Capella voice of the film’s main character, Behran (played by Yilmaz Yalcin).

There is almost nil violence in this film; rather, it is paradoxical in its nature using a very tough subject of much heated contention and portraying it in such a graceful and modest way. More than a story about a Kurdish/Turkish illegal alien on the run, this is a buddy story about a man on the road escaping his mysterious and difficult past towards an unknown future and the unlikely friendship he develops on the way.

Nelu (played by Andras Hathazi) is a middle-aged Romanian man who lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere outside Salonta, Romania and works at a local supermarket. One day while going about his daily business, he is visited by a Turkish illegal alien on the run who pleads with Nelu to let him stay concealed in the farm. Nelu is a simple and compassionate man so he lets Behran stay just for the night. One night turns into several as the relationship grows between these two men. They form a bittersweet unlikely friendship that develops between them, despite the fact that neither speak each other’s language nor understands one word of each person says throughout the entire film. Salonta rests near the border with Hungary, Behran’s next destination, and thus Behran stays there under Nelu’s protection and hospitality until he can finally leave.

A Palme d'Or winner of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival  for his short film Megatron,Marian Crisan went on to make ‘Morgen’ which has since received four jury awards at the 2010 Locarno Film Festival and three jury awards at the 2010 TIFF, Thessaloniki Film Festival.  

written by, Vanessa McMahon on February 28, 2011