-Plot: In the 1950s, a group of Greek-Catholic leaders is imprisoned at Sighet (Romania) and asked to convert to Eastern-Orthodoxy.
-Good, complex script by Bogdan Toma, the right mixture of history and fiction.
-A broad collection of wooden languages: the communists', the Securitatea's, the prison leaders', the soldiers', the Greek-Catholic clergy's, the Vatican envoy's, etc. Furthermore, the language used by Episcope Hossu (masterfully played by Radu Botar) changes from 1918 to 1950 to 1976.
-What am I ready to give up for a just cause? Not easy to answer. I guess ... time.
-Well edited. There is a scene in the prison hallway where after all have left the camera lingers by an interior gate for a few seconds, not too many, not too few, just enough to convey the loneliness and the despair.
-Body pain goes down while praying. Including someone else's pain.
-When I was a teenager, I had a secret "screen crush" on Maria Ploae. After decades, I found her as beautiful and as good of an actress as ever.
-Nicolae Margineanu directed an impressive movie, a work of art.
-Let's go to the movies!
Review of The Cardinal
