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VENICE 2022 Orizzonti

Review: To the North

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- VENICE 2022: Mihai Mincan’s fiction debut explores the terrible consequences of kindness

Review: To the North
Nikolai Becker in To the North

After co-directing three documentary features, the most interesting of which is The Man Who Would Be Free [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Romanian helmer Mihai Mincan switches to fiction with one of the most ambitious films ever made in Romania, now competing in the Orizzonti competition of the 79th Venice Film Festival. Legally and financially, To the North [+see also:
trailer
interview: Mihai Mincan
film profile
]
is indeed a Romanian film, but it looks and feels as stateless as the international waters where the action takes place, confining mostly Filipino and Taiwanese characters to a ship in the middle of the ocean.

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We know from the very beginning that the film is based on real events that took place in 1996. A mysterious first scene shows two men adrift in the middle of the ocean, on an improvised raft. We see both desperation and resignation in their eyes, and the immensity of the liquid surrounding them can only mean one thing: the end is nigh for them. At that exact moment, the story switches to Dumitru (Nikolai Becker), a young Romanian who is playing an improvised game of football with his Bulgarian friend (Dimitar Vasilev). Their cryptic conversation tells us two things: they want to make it big in America, and they will get there as stowaways on a cargo ship… Little do they know that the captains of such ships had quite an easy, albeit terrible, solution to get rid of stowaways.

With an impressive economy of means, Mincan’s screenplay creates a powerful dynamic of power and powerlessness, with poor Dumitru’s life at stake in its exact centre. But he is not without allies in this unwelcoming territory made of steel and narrow passageways: Dumitru will soon be discovered by Joel (Soliman Cruz), a Christian member of the Filipino crew who decides to help the young Romanian after seeing a Bible in his hiding place. Here, Mincan creates an intriguing and complex game between “us” and “them”, with one life hanging in the balance. It is quite interesting how Dumitru and Joel can form an “us”, even though they are separated by wildly different life experiences, while the Taiwanese officers of the ship can become “them”.

What is most unnerving about To the North is how easy it is to understand all of the points of view at play here. Of course, the audience will root for Dumitru, the young man coming from a poor country and willing to do anything – even die – in order to turn his fantasy about America into reality. The audience will be impressed by Joel’s kindness and his Christian ideals, which push him to help a man he knows nothing about. But what if this game between right and wrong is much more complex than one would expect? Mincan succeeds in creating a narrow path heading towards a choice that appears impossible – but in fact, it’s the only possible option… And the “good or fair” speech we witness may become food for thought for a sizeable part of the audience.

It would be hard to find a story more universal than the one in To the North. It is a tale about status and power. Yes, the characters are Romanian, Filipino and Taiwanese, but they could hail from anywhere. And yes, the characters are on a ship in the middle of the ocean, but they could easily be in a small city or a metropolis. Some people will always party, celebrating their status, success or a newborn child (as is the case in To the North), while others will hide in the darkness, with only their dreams to keep them warm. It is a story as old as time itself, but Mincan has found a new, compelling way to tell it.

To the North was produced by deFilm (Romania) in co-production with Remora Films (France), Studiobauhaus (Greece), Screening Emotions (Bulgaria) and Background Films (Czech Republic). Best Friend Forever is handling the international sales.

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Photogallery 05/09/2022: Venice 2022 - To the North

11 pictures available. Swipe left or right to see them all.

Mihai Mincan, Soliman Cruz, Nikolai Becker, Bartholome Guingona, Olivier Ho Hio Hen, Emmanuel Sto. Domingo, Alexandre Nguyen
© 2022 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it

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