Romania

Based on real-life events, Cristian Mungiu’s slow-burn drama about a community consumed by xenophobia is unflinching in its examination of Romanian society Hate is not something that erupts suddenly in the dour but powerful latest picture by the Romanian director Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days). Rather, in this examination of the viscous trickle of bad blood in a small Transylvanian village, it grows incrementally at first malign and cancerous, until it has metastasised into every part of the community. RMN – the title is the Romanian abbreviation for an MRI – fitting for a picture that takes a scalpel to the sickness at the heart of its society – is inspired by an actual event. In 2020, xenophobia towards newly arrived south-east Asian migrant workers consumed the residents of the Transylvanian town of Ditrău. It would be easy to paint the village as a community of monsters. Still, while you probably wouldn’t rush to relocate there, Mungiu is less interested in blanket condemnation and more in excavating the roots of the anger that, he suggests, run generations deep.Mungiu has always been a director who favours a slow-burn approach to his storytelling. Here, he keeps a wary distance from his characters. Don’t expect emotionally charged extreme closeups, even of the main characters – bread factory manager Csilla (Judith State), her brutish on-off boyfriend Matthias (Marin Grigore). This measured, contemplative approach works supremely well, gradually tightening its grip as the tensions in the community mount. The space that Mungiu leaves, both physically, with his immaculately composed wide shots, and temporally, in the unhurried plotting, allows for a satisfying complexity, and an eventual swerve into dreamlike symbolism. Unfortunately, this final element is perhaps the least successful moment in the film, muddying the acutely pessimistic clarity of what comes before. Continue reading...

The England hooker has gone from Ampthill in the Championship to the World CupTheo Dan’s rapid rise into the England ranks came thanks to a breakthrough season at Saracens – via a stint at Ampthill – but it was forged in Romanian steel. His grandfather, an engineer from Bucharest, was a keen player in his day and built a set of posts for Dan to learn his trade, locking horns with his cousins for days on end in the long summers of his youth.The 22-year-old speaks Romanian with his parents – who moved to the UK in the late 1990s – with the odd word of English thrown in and he was due to spend another summer in Romania until a call from Steve Borthwick. The England head coach informed him he would be capping a fine season, one that began in the Championship but ended with Saracens’ victory in the Premiership final, with a place in England’s training squad for the World Cup. Continue reading...

South Africa’s selection puzzler; Samoa want more time with tier one; Tshiunza’s steep learning curve; and fuelling with baguettesAfter their opening win against Scotland, South Africa get a second crack at Pool B on Sunday evening against Romania in Bordeaux. While much has been made of the world champions’ squad depth, the loss of the hooker Malcolm Marx to a knee injury this week was a significant setback on and off the field. Continue reading...

64-times capped forward suffered knee injury in trainingSpringboks have no plans to call up a replacementSouth Africa have announced Malcolm Marx has been ruled out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup through injury. The 29-year-old hooker sustained a knee injury in training and will not feature in any of the Springboks’ remaining fixtures, including Sunday’s match against Romania in Bordeaux.This comes after the forward played 58 minutes in South Africa’s opening 18-3 win over Scotland last week as they began their defence of their 2019 crown. Continue reading...