“R.M.N.” – Magnetic and resonant [MOVIE REVIEW]

Judith State as Csilla and Marin Grigore as Matthias. Photo courtesy of IFC Films. “R.M.N.,” short for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (the Romanian equivalent of MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging), long form for a brain scan, takes on several meanings. One of the minor characters is suffering from a tumor, hence his need for this neurological procedure. More globally, however, is the relevance to intolerance. Here, director Christian Mungiu, known for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winning film about abortion, tackles racism and xenophobia, the malignant tumors he sees spreading in society. Mattias, like most of the men in his Transylvanian village, has been forced to find work and opportunity in Germany. The work, like most employment open to foreigners, is backbreaking and degrading. Working at a slaughterhouse, he kills, guts, and saws off the horns of sheep, a probable metaphor for anyone trapped like he is. Hotheaded, he leaves his job abruptly when he attacks his boss for denigrating him and calling him Roma. Roma is the new global word for gypsy, a term adopted by the EU to try to mitigate the negative connotation of a people thought to be dirty, cheaters…

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