The Father Who Moves Mountains

It's a decent movie on Netflix and it doesn't deserve a bad reception from audiences; the plot is decent and the cinematography is excellent; Romanian cinema has a lot of potential.

The english title is kind of a giveaway - to be fair, I don't think you'd expect any different. The mood is set from the start and the cinematography is quite stunning. Of course for some this may feel a bit long. The pace and things happening are quite slow. But you'll either dig it or just find it annoying.

Acting is decent enough and if you go with the flow, the drama will get to you one way or another. That doesn't mean you have to agree with everything the (main) character(s) are doing. Still there is enough suspense to keep you invested until the very end - even if it may be a bit too long ...

A new Romanian drama on Netflix. A wealthy father struggled against nature as he would not stop at anything to rescue his son, who was lost in the snowy mountain.

The synopsis really sounded like this movie would be an intense thriller. Instead, this was a deep and bleak character study of a father who tried everything to save his son. Going through Letterboxd and Rotten Tomatoes, I saw that many did not like this movie, and I believed that they did not understand the message.

The father character is not a nice person. He's an affluent man who tried to use all his wealth and connections while manipulating and coercing others to help him. For him, others' safety did not matter too much to him. This did not make the father a likable character in audiences' eyes. However, I still found this movie to be powerful despite its depressing color because it showed the resilience and obsession of a parent, regardless of how good of a person the parent is. It should not be surprising that even some of the most evil persons would do anything to keep their loved ones safe. The father character was selfish and a bully, but being on his shoe, I doubt that many parents would do any different.

As I said before, this is not some thriller or tear-jerking drama. It's very slow, and the ending would leave many unsatisfied and even annoyed. However, for me, this ending effectively emphasized the theme of how parents would never give up on their children. Even more powerful was the fact that the movie was based on a true story.

Overall, a unique drama about the power of parental love. 8.5/10.

... Said my 12 year old son when the movie ended. This movie is very well made, beautifully acted, cinematography amazing, but.... absolutely horrible story and main character. You just can't believe a human being can be this arrogant and selfish. I understand the ending, it just doesn't do justice to the movie nor does it respect the time the viewer invested in it. Warming: this movie is not about a heroic rescue mission, but about a horribly selfish man.

Update: I gave the movie 2 stars because of how annoying the ending is. But this doesn't do justice to the acting, production and deeper layers of this story. The fact I was disappointed in the ending and in the main character, does not justify giving this well made movie 2 stars. This was not a bad movie. It was just not what I was expecting or what I wanted to see.

They just changed their name, and boy do they like to give orders and have obedience from the slaves.

Pretty poor acting... just watched it for the scenery and mountain rescue activities.