The Father Who Moves Mountains is a Romanian film that was recently released on Netflix, internationally. It is directed by Daniel Sandu and stars Adrian Titieni, Judith State, Cristian Bota, Elena Purea, and Valeriu Andriuta as the main cast members, among various others. The film runs for a total of just a little under 2 hours and is available on Netflix with Romanian and English audio along with subtitles for both. It is a poignant portrayal of a father’s love for his son.
The film follows an ageing and now retired intelligence official whose son goes missing with his girlfriend, in the snow-capped peaks while hiking. The father stops at nothing to get them both back to safety, no matter what the cost is. Action-packed but subtle, the film is a delicate reminder of the fierce love parents carry for their children.
Netflix describes it as:
When his son goes missing during a snowy hike in the mountains, a retired intelligence officer will stop at nothing — and risk everything — to find him.
Via the Netflix Official Site
The Father Who Moves Mountains lays a powerful emphasis on action and juxtaposing this with subtleties of one’s peculiar characteristics. This is particularly brought out by the fact that the movie jumps headfirst into the action with virtually no buildup. And while this put me off initially, the movie substantially slowed down during its second half, to become much more sensitive than I had expected it to be.
The casual way with which action came together with the vulnerabilities of each character is what really brought out the film for me. That being said, it does have a fair share of flaws. Out of these, the most striking to me was the English dub, which was more or less monotone, so much so that I stuck to the Romanian audio instead.
However, this shouldn’t pose too much of an issue, since the subtitles work well enough.
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The Father Who Moves Mountains is a film you can very well watch with your family. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that you should. Once you transgress the barrier of language you will discover such amazing movies, and The Father Who Moves Mountains is definietly one of them.
Apart from the emotional subtext it carries, this is greatly complemented by the breathtaking views and a strong performance from most of the cast members. Adrian Titieni is great as the burly, worried father desperate to save his teenage son, and almost carries most of the film by himself.
The Father Who Moves Mountains is definitely the kind of move that is made or broken by the lead and revolves completely around the leads. Although this made the rest of the cast seem plastic and fade to the background, Titieni does a good enough job shouldering the script.
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Final Verdict: The Father Who Moves Mountains
Two words: Watch. It.
While I wouldn’t be hasty enough to say that this is my favourite foreign film, it definitely makes it to the top ten. The attention to detail and the nuance with which both, the cast and the crew do justice to an emotionally-wrought script. Quite brilliant, and need I say, a must-watch.
The Father Who Moves Mountains is now streaming on Netflix.
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