Courtesy of Big World Pictures

Romania’s official 2016 Academy Awards entry for Best Foreign Language Film, Aferim! is an unconventional and beautifully shot black-and-white movie that is both reminiscent of an American Western and exotic in its depiction of a bygone (and perhaps not so bygone) foreign culture. The episodic tale, which takes place in 1835 Wallachia (a region in Romania), follows a lawman and his son as they traverse a desolate landscape in search of an escaped gypsy slave.

Directed by Radu Jude and co-written by novelist Florin Lazarescu, Aferim! (which means “Bravo!”) is based on actual accounts of gypsy slavery. Though often comedic (the dialogue is full of crudely funny banter), it serves as a semi-historical commentary on Romania’s anti-Roma sentiment, which is still very much in evidence today. It also starkly depicts the ridiculous prejudices that people of one nationality or religion have for others, in addition to other forms of bigotry.

Constable Costandin (Teodor Corban) and his teenage son Ionitā (Mihai Comānoiu) first come upon an abbey on their travels, where they cross themselves and light candles like good Catholics, though Costandin has already cruelly berated an old woman and threatened a bunch of local gypsies. He’s a scrappy, equal-opportunity offender, who hurls insults at almost everyone he comes across – especially poor “crows” (gypsies) – or denigrates them behind their backs. In contrast, Ionitā is more reserved and thoughtful. The two carry a mandate for the capture of Carfin, a slave who has stolen money and run away from his master, a boyar.

Courtesy of Big World Pictures

When they help a stranded priest, Costandin asks him, “Gypsies: are they people or Satan’s spawn,” which leads the holy man to expound happily on the flaws of various nationalities (except for Romanians, who “love, honor and suffer”). “Lovely thoughts, father,” says Costandin, who himself seems no better. “You’re not a sodomite, are you,” he asks his son at one point. “Because if you are, I’ll drown you with my own hands.”

They encounter various individuals as they navigate the rugged terrain, including a rival lawman who is bribed to reveal the fugitive’s hiding place. There they find both Carfin (Cuzin Toma) and an escaped child slave, both of whom beg not to be returned to their owners. It turns out that Carfin had an affair with the boyar’s wife and believes he will be killed; the child was beaten by his owner. But Costandin pays them no heed.

He and Ionitā take both Carfin and the boy, the former shackled and slung over Costandin’s horse. The group comes across Turks in a carriage and Costandin politely gives them wrong directions (“I hate the Ottomans, nothing but beasts”). Carfin, who has travelled and seen something of the world, tell his story, which amuses Costandin, but “We have no concern for your life,” declares the constable, trying to remain detached.

Courtesy of Big World Pictures

In one surreal scene, they come upon a ragged carnival/slave auction that includes a crude ferris wheel and a violent Punch and Judy show. Starving slaves beg to be bought, and the young boy is ultimately sold by Costandin to a priest. The constable gets drunk at the village inn, waxes philosophical and gets sentimental; he gives Carfin food and wine, and arranges a prostitute for his son and himself. Amid the drunken singing and general merriment, Carfin begs again to be released and Ionitā asks if they can let him go. Costandin refuses, but agrees to defend the slave to his boyar when they get back.

The trio return home and bring Carfin to the boyar’s house; at this point the movie sobers up and becomes tense as we await the slave’s fate. True to his word, Costandin first talks to the owner’s wife and hears her unhappy story, then finally speaks to the wealthy boyar and asks him to spare the slave. But things take a horrific turn, all the more appalling after all the comic banter.

A combination road-trip farce and dark historical account, Aferim! is an unusual and affecting film that uniquely addresses the kind of ages-old prejudices that continue to devastate the world.

Aferim! is playing at the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.

—Marina Zogbi