Between Pain and Amen (2019) User Reviews

Very important subject, given an below expected chance to shine

[unpopicakbill · 7/10 · 20 December 2023]

The story is real, the facts were real, the situation was a massive Romanian pogrom which was executed in the manner one hears coming from USSR/Russia, China or North Korea. The story was framed nicely, with a first dramatic line that holds well, in the development and character of the main character, and its relations with his alter ego living with his wife, the brother, the priest and other prison inmates. It comes with some other undertones - stories in background, most of them detracting from the seriousness of the presented situation, but I will not give away some of it.

Major cons of the movie are the acting of the main character which is very believable in the negative instances, but hardly believable in the upside scenes, some other poor acting, poor framing especially on the wide frames and the drone shots.

All in all it should received a better movie, a better cast, a clearer storyline, and it could have done more right to the situation.

Accurate movie. tough to watch

[fursecu · 10/10 · 16 November 2019]

This is a very good Romanian movie, with great cinematography and acting, but also tough to watch by sensitive people, mainly because of explicit violent scenes. If you do a little research about "Pitesti experiment" before you watch this, you will see that the facts are very accurately depicted, and the director captured and presented that horrifying communist prison atmosphere to a level seen only in big budget movies (actually this movie is an independent one, with private funding and was filmed in very harsh conditions - and not a surprise - it was NOT funded by the CNC - Romanian National Cinematography Center because.. "reasons"). In our times, when everything is censored and goes PC, it's a wonder that this got public recognition and won prizes on several film festivals! Kudos to the team that worked on this project, especially to the director that felt it was his duty to create such a gem, and bring a little light and truth about that sad period in our lives. Go watch this!

A true story that brought an audience formed by 550 people (sold out) to tears

[udreaalex · 10/10 · 17 December 2019]

It was the first time in my life when i heard people crying in a cinema. It is an emotional movie about communism and the suffering of those who kept their faith in the hardest times.

It is a true story and a movie made with no budget worth the while watching it. It became one of my top 10 all time favourite movies.

Congrats to everyone involved into this production. Exceptional!

A beautiful and balanced film about history, (in)humanity - and a warning

[codrin-920-29614 · 10/10 · 17 November 2019]

Sadly, this is a film about a violent period in Romanian history when the elites were decimated and an entire country was taken over by a totalitarian pro-Soviet regime. It's a story about how a peaceful, in full development country, is violently stolen by brute force, its best people are tortured and killed, where the terror is spread over night, where human rights, real laws and humanity are no more existent. However, the movie is an artistic movie, not a documentary. It's reasonably violent, with violence more suggested than displayed which adds a lot to the balance and philosophy of the film. It's not a hard to watch movie - but it's hard to digest the outrageous history that - beware - you feel that it can repeat in any other country, anytime, in a very short amount of time; and also gives you the fear that your own self is not so far from bestiality, should the circumstances be different. The movie is a must see and is sublime in what it transmits. I have appreciated that, after developing the dark subject, the film is able to make you leave the cinema smiling.. crying, probably, but smiling. Iasi, Ateneu, 16 nov 2019.

Must see

[adriandanpop · 10/10 · 9 December 2019]

I had mixt feelings about the movie. I did not expected to be such amazing and good quality. The topic, the flow of events, the research done to capture the essence is top quality. I recommend it to everyone. Maybe this is the first romanian movie I will watch again

I did not enjoy the movie at all

[miss_arane · 3/10 · 9 October 2019]

First of all, the acting was mediocre. I could easily tell that the actors were not 100% in the role. The lines were something nobody on this planet would ever say. At some point Lia says "My life went on so smoothly until now" - So we're around 1949 when Pitesti Experiment started. That means only a few years ago the worst war in the world's history was taking place, and Romania was a part of it. From what I've read, Romania was pretty tight during that period. Did she completely forget that? It tried to be politically correct which is something people don't do if they want a good representation of the Experiment and it did CHANGE the names of the inmates which is another proof of how far from the truth this movie is. I couldn't wait for the movie to end after the first 15 minutes.

Excelent movie

[davidiancu-01631 · 10/10 · 3 November 2019]

Very tough movie, great acting and great prison scenes. The realiy, though, was even tougher. The people were crying at the cinema... The love scenes, however, were not that good and they looked cheap (same music, same scenery).

the truth

[Kirpianuscus · 1 October 2021]

It is difficult to define this film. Basically, it is a testimony and one of films who you need to see to understand old truths defining the present. Fenomenul Pitesti deserves its movie. Not only as a sort of requisitorium against Communism but as remind of sacrifices, pain, cruelty and a sort of unique experiment of desumanitation of the XX century. Admirable acting , powerful message. A love story as axis and great ambition of Toma Enache to show the truth in its naked essence.

It's mandatory to know the horros of communist history. See the story, maybe also the movie.

[MadalinaCC · 5/10 · 9 June 2020]

There simply can not be enough movies about the horrors of communist prisons, especially the Pitesti Prison. People need to know the story, even if it isn't told in the best way possible. And Between Pain and Amen is not the best movie of them all.

It's full of cliches in terms of cinematography. With a few exceptions, the acting is bad, as is the dialogue. Sound mixing and montage could have been better.

Do some research on the Pitesti prison and experiment before watching it. From what I read, reality could have been way worse, but the movie does a very good job in describing the pain of the students and intellectuals that were imprisoned.

A history lesson everyone should learn

[m-71025-67607 · 9/10 · 30 December 2020]

For the ones who are biased about the communist regime. Inhuman treatment, a continuos depravation of humanity, cruelty, suffering, a perfect picture of what communist can do.

Great movie! This is a must watch!

[gelu-58320 · 10/10 · 10 August 2020]

This movie illustrates beautifully what the communists of Romania forced their population to endure. It was an emotional film that is worth every minute.

A spiritual experience

[roxana_m-49707 · 10/10 · 10 August 2020]

Everyone of the very few people that survived Prison of Pitesti experiment (this was a Romanian communist prison where the experiment involving extreme physical, spiritual, psychological and moral torture was carried out between December 1949 and Septembre 1951) told that faith was the only way out - out of the incredible hell of inhumanity. This was an unique prison experiment, called reeducation, similar only to the Stanford Experiment - but, unlike the real Pitesti this academic Stanford experiment was never carried out to its due consequences.This movie is the first attempt to give us any idea how it was like - and director Toma Enache reaches out to us, people that don't have any idea of this hell. His wonderful movie make us live the hell of torture and in the same time makes us understand and live the incredible relief that was love and faith, for the brave people who had the courage to choose physical hell and pain and suffering only in order to survive as real humans, meaning humans with a soul and a faith. The incredible merit of this movie is to make us live for a moment this atrocious and epiphanic experience

No words

[stavarachegiulia · 10/10 · 28 February 2020]

An extraordinarily good film with a special subject..

vibe in the air

[arosu-95166 · 9/10 · 15 October 2019]

Maybe my rating is due to the fact that I watched this movie at the inauguration, where the actors were present in Timisoara. It made me feel very impressed about what this movie had to show to the world, how bad the communism was in Romania. I wish I could understand more of the dialog, but the sound was bad in Romanian, so an additional subtitle might help the viewer to understand it.

I'm shocked!

[prisecaru_florin · 10/10 · 9 June 2020]

I can't say any word. I'm shocked! I just saw the movie and I was speechless. The movie and actors were playing very well. The movie is based on historical documents, isn't a fiction. All was real.

A must see for all Romanian film proffessionals

[tonienache · 10/10 · 28 May 2020]

This production should be a case study for the entire Romanian film industry (script writers, directors, DOPs, actors, critics) which definitely needs a reset. It is the best possible example of how films should me made. For me, who have stopped watching Romanian productions for some time due to their poor quality - uninteresting, even ridiculous scripts, poor directing, bad sound etc., - this film was a revelation. I will definitely keep my eye on everything that comes out of the skillful hands of director Toma Enache.

The best history lesson I have ever seen

[mihaelafluieras · 10/10 · 9 April 2020]

This film is about communism and its abuses. It is about the unknown Romanian heroes that we have forgotten. It is about any communist system and its non values. It is about us too, about liberty, dreams, human condition, faith in God, about life in very difficult conditions. It is a must if people want to understand communism and its reality as it was. One must see this film! The actors are amazing, the director is awesome and all the film is ...simply the best!

You wouldn't believe it actually happened

[adrianrednique · 9/10 · 2 November 2022]

It was quite hard to watch. But this movie is a real cinematic masterpiece with really talented actors - maybe with the exception of two who are not part of the cast of those who played the main characters. Bebe Cotimanis, the actor who played the warden (prison commander), as always, has played exceptionally the villain character.

This is a movie that should bring down to earth all those who pay homage to the communist past, especially Romania's, the nostalgics who have forgotten the hardships, deprivations and injustices to which the Romanian people were subjected during the communist period.

We need more movies like this!

[lordan29 · 10/10 · 3 January 2022]

I will start by saying that this is not at all a perfect movie and some people could be bothered by its flaws and it definitely has obvious flaws. But it succeeds where it should have, it creates a story by putting together pieces of actual, documented facts confessed by persons that have suffered many years in Romanian communist prisons - the characters and action are fictional though overall.

I am very interested into the topic and have read a lot about communist prisons and regular people that are now considered saints for their endurance. Most of the movie scenes are placed inside the prison and they are based on true experiences, nothing felt exaggerated, it is a shaking display of the horrors that did happen there. Actually, they were even worse and executioners like Turcanu (who inspired the character Jurganu in the movie) tortured students in ways we couldn't imagine.

As I said, the movie is far from perfect and there is some bad acting you need to overlook at times, but just leave all that out and focus on the evolution of the two brothers in prison (which is also plausible). The movie is shaking, sad, might make you cry or mad that innocent students had to suffer so much for no reason (trials were a joke with vague reasons for giving people 10-25 years for "anti communist activity")

I definitely recommend this movie and would be happy to see more coming on the same topic that focus on telling people the truth about life in communist prisons and the heroic endurance of innocent souls.