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Whoever said that movies are strictly for entertainment purposes and hold very little value in teaching important life lessons appears to be watching the wrong films.
There have been so many Independent Films that have grabbed this writer by the throat and wouldn’t let go that I began to keep diaries so that weeks, months or years later, I could relive the lessons learned.
The 2007 Romanian film, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, written and directed by Christian Mungiu, not only grabs you by the throat, but pulls your hair too.
Another powerful review is found at rogerebert.com regarding their view of this engrossing tale. “The time is the late 1980s. Romania still cringes under the brainless rule of Ceausescu. In Cristian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” Gabita desires an abortion, which was then illegal, not for moral reasons, but because Ceausescu wanted more subjects to rule.
She turns in desperation to her roommate Otilia, who agrees to help her, and does. Helps her so much, indeed, she does everything but have the abortion herself. In a period of 24 hours, we follow the two friends in a journey of frustration, stupidity, duplicity, cruelty and desperation, set against a background of a nation where if it weren’t for the black market, there’d be no market at all.”
The story was intense from beginning to end, the acting so brilliant it frustrated you and unexpected twists and turns were captivating.
It also made me wonder about women’s rights and daily life experiences in Romania, especially after meeting Alessia Cutie, our submission wrestling Romanian Princess and former gymnast.
The good news is that there is women’s wrestling in Romania. The bad news is there is not much of it.
Since she is one of the few from our submission world who decided to make a go of it, we would like to bring attention to Emma.
She expresses at WB270.com that wrestling is available on mats and that she speaks both Dutch and English.
Her customers have fallen in love with her. Here are a couple of reviews.
“Emma Switch is in my opinion one of the most athletic and technically skilled session wrestlers out there. She is not only fast, and with endurance but is also very technical with a strong wrestling and great jujitsu. I have had several sessions with her and she has dominated in every encounter despite a severe size disadvantage and me an OK grappler with some experience.”
Here’s another.
“I had a session with Emma and it was the best session ever. At the first sight, I was pleased by her kindness and smile. She wore a tight top and shorts and I was really impressed by her incredible toned body, very hard shapely biceps, back and rock hard abs: I’d have passed all the time just worshipping it!”
She states, “I monthly travel across Europe. In case you desire to have a session with me just write an e-mail. Don’t forget to put the name of the city in the description of the e-mail.”
You can email Emma at switch.emma@gmail.com
Another Romanian wrestler who we loved dearly from the past was London Wrestling Studio’s Cleopatra who competed at a very high level and we featured an article on her matches.
Cleopatra, Sexy LWS Wrestler, Tribute To Epictetus Disciple
So how are women treated in Romania?
It’s a very relative question but the starting place might be to look at how they were being treated.
According to a year 2000 report, legislationline.org states, “The Romanian legislation does not yet regulate domestic violence separately. While the number of women victims of domestic violence, reported in 1998, is 5 times bigger than in 1996, at present there is no specific legal protection for victims of domestic violence.
Marital rape is not recognized.
Sexual harassment is not covered by the criminal law. Offence of any kind against women, in public places, is not an infringement of the law unless it involves the disturbance of a large number of people.
The state’s slowness in changing legislation and implementing affirmative actions against domestic violence, the lack of education programs both for the public and those involved in applying the low illustrates indifference towards the victims of this kind of violence and perpetuates a discriminative attitude and mentalities regarding women’s status in the family.”
Fortunately things have improved.
As shared by worldbank.org, “Over the past 50 years, the legal status of women has improved in Romania, as it has the world over. Despite this progress, however, many challenges in addressing the vulnerabilities of women as a social group still persist. In response to this situation, the World Bank Group (WBG) has made gender equality one of the key challenges to tackle in Romania.”
You might want to read this exceptional article that highlights the twenty most powerful women in Romania.
http://www.romania-insider.com/romanias-20-most-powerful-women/143423/
Here is one example. “Romanian Mariana Gheorghe has been the CEO of oil and gas company OMV Petrom since 2006. She is also president of the company’s board. She started her career in 1979, holding several positions in two Romanian companies, Policolor-Orgachim Group and Chimica / Romferchim until 1991.”
And another.
“Anca Vlad is one of the most successful business women in Romania. Back in 1991, she founded Fildas, a group of companies currently comprising Fildas Trading, Catena pharmacies and Naturalis cosmetics stores. She studied at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, the Faculty of International Trade. She started working at a furniture company right after graduating university, in 1980. Seven years later, in 1987, she started her collaboration with the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as country manager for SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.”
The article is worth a look.
There is still much work to do.
A December 2014 story at the huffingtonpost.com reminds us of that. “The status of women in Romanian society has seen both improvements and setbacks over the last two decades. For instance, accession to the European Union initially brought advances, as the country had to meet European standards on equality. But some of those advances were short-lived.”
At Femcompetitor Magazine were so happy to see our industry blessed with the talents of female submission wrestlers from Romania. We wish their numbers were larger.
Based upon our experiences watching the Romanian girls compete, like a great Indie Film, in terms of capturing your attention, emotionally speaking, they can grab you by the throat and sometimes pull your hair too.
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Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.
http://www.legislationline.org/documents/id/7703
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/4-months-3-weeks-and-2-days-2008
http://www.romania-insider.com/romanias-20-most-powerful-women/143423/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-feffer/empowering-women-in-roman_b_5934886.html
