The Cardinal (2019) User Reviews

Never give in, never give up!

[Marius_Stan · 8/10 · 30 January 2021]

-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!

An ortodox movie

[anghelinadragos · 5/10 · 25 November 2019]

I was this weekend at the cinema to see the movie The Cardinal. I was disappointed about that the movie is about the 7 Greco-Roman Cardinals but in fact they ware praying in orthodox way. No Greco-Roman priest will say " roaba and Sfântul Duh" instead they will say "serva and Sfântul Spirit". The movie has no starting and the end is in the same way. If you know the history the movie will be a disappointment. They filmed most of the scenes in the Sighet prison but in the movie you have a different perspective of what happened there and if you read the history or seen the museum. From my point of view they waste a lot of time with small facts but the bigger pictures of that time was insignificant. You don't understand why the hungarian people had issues with Cardinal Hosu and what happened with each priest in prison and after the home arrest. You think that the story is regarding the 7 Cardinals and the time that they spent in prison but at the beginning you see a amateur photographer that was present at the declaration of union at the prison whit knowledge of the Cardinal Hosu. The film will shift from on 1950 to 1918 and then to 1966 and so on. You will not understand why they were sent to prison and that horrible things happened to them. The only thing you see are the two politicians how had a terrible death. One of them from dysentery and leaved to the end of his life . I end the review with a quote: " Cei din regat nu vor intelege niciodata de ce Biserica Unita este iubita de ardeleni".