4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days Discussion

**Trigger Warning**--As you can discover on Wikipedia and other places on the Internet, this film contains strong and disturbing imagery related to sexual assault and abortion. If you'd like to read about the content of the film before you watch it, I encourage you to do so. Also, please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Today, with this film, we continue our journey into some essential questions raised in our experience of art: "what is the nature of humanity?" and "what is the potential of humanity?" Who are we, and what makes us who we are? Is there a moral imperative that directs our path, or do we construct a morality that suits our intentions? Is there such a thing as evil? Is there such a thing as good? Do we choose between them, or do we simply fall into categories that conveniently describe our behavior?

As you work your way through this film, and your way through thinking about this film in the aftermath of watching it, I would like you to reflect on your emotional and ethical response to 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. For some of you, this film will have been the most difficult of the semester, and for the rest, it will at least have been upsetting to a degree. What is your emotional response to this film, beyond "like" and "dislike"? How did the film successfully affect you? Contrary to Otilia's statement at the end of the film, "We're never going to talk about this, OK?," we ARE going to talk about it. Don't you agree that the director is asking us to talk about it?

As part of reflecting on your emotional response, think about specific ways that the director managed to GET that response from YOU. You should be able to express at least THREE essential ways that you'd share with me and your classmates. You can work these ideas into your questions and debatable statements. Look into the film for the heart of its purpose. Here are some dimensions to consider:

• filming and editing techniques
• narrative structure
• purpose and/or ideology
• motifs that enrich the story

This time, in your discussion posting, please share ONE thought-provoking question and TWO thought-provoking, debatable statements about 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days to the "Debatable Statements" forum in D2L. Please see the calendar and the discussion forum description for additional information.

Your questions and statements should encourage the exchange of ideas between you and your peers. You may ask additional questions about your concerns and confusions, but for the main content of your posting, try to think hard about ideas that relate to the heart of the film, how it's made, and what it achieves as a story. Including clip descriptions that your questions and statements relate to can help your classmates understand your meaning.