If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (Florian Serban, 2010): Romania/Sweden

Reviewed by Sanni Frostenson at Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle was somewhat depressing, reflecting the culture in Eastern Europe in some senses. When I first saw it I honestly didn’t like it at all, but after a few days it grew on me and I won’t forget this film for a long time.

Its about a young boy, Chistan Silviu (George Pistereanu), who is a juvenile delinquent  in Romania.  He is a rebellious individual but not out if malice—he acts after his own head with a secret agenda of his own. At one time he steals the ball when the other juvenile delinquents are playing soccer. Silviu is just different from the other boys in general. At another one time he interacts with two of the others in borrowing a cell phone, which is banned in the juvenile hall, but he gets away with it while they are doing labor out at the yard.

Chistan is desperate to get hold of his mother, but not because he misses her, it’s the other way around. He was pushed around by her his whole childhood, when he had to go with her from place to place. This is the last thing he wishes for his younger brother Marius, who he basically raised himself.

Their mother has been away for many years after leaving their father, and now she is back, telling Silviu she will bring Marius with her to Italy—the father is in the hospital and has already signed all the papers. These events are what Silviu fears the most and he is willing to do anything to force his mom to keep his younger brother in Romania. With only nine days left in the hall he tries to get hold of her by any means possible, but when the warden refuses to give him approval to leave for a day his desperation reaches new dimensions.

During his time in juvenile hall he has fallen for a young girl who visited to do interviews several times. He states that he will marry this girl Ana (Ada Condeesco), who he also calls “the girl with the beautiful lips.” But now he is willing to do anything to make his mother promise to not take Marius away and from here on his behavior degenerates into a climax in the film.

I continue wondering for myself why Silviu never tries to tell the warden the truth of why he needs a leave of absence from the hall. Things might not have gone crazy (and there would have been no movie). He is a boy doing the wrong things for the right reasons.

The film was unfortunately extremely slow. I found myself struggling to stay awake. I was not that impressed by the actor’s performances either, and even though the opinion of good acting differs worldwide, I don’t find Pistereanu very convincing. But what I realized is that the film almost totally lacks any kind of added sounds—there are basically no music tracks to bring emotions to the viewer. In one scene a few water drops are falling in the background, which could have make a great effect, but instead does not.

However,  if you want to see a film that differs considerably from the mainstream fair then you should go and see this one.