THE HATCHET

BALTAGUL

Director Mircea Muresan / 1970 / Romania

Based on the "Miorita", a Romanian folkloric classic, the film analyses the inner motivations of a woman whose compulsion is to reconstruct a tragedy.

Obsessed by the fact that her husband who fails to return after setting out to buy sheep, has been murdered, Vitoria succeeds in intuiting the crime, aided by the force of a subtle inner process and guided by a sixth sense.

Accompanied by her son, Vitoria follows in her husband's footsteps by undertaking a similar trip, and gradually discovers the truth.

The Romanian soul is presented in its own strange beauty. Life and death, sadness and joy, violence and justice are all part of things, just like the seasons. Vitoria copes with all manner of events in a simple and natural way, yet her attitude reveals a unique complexity hidden beneath apparent simplicity.

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