Cannes: Transylvania-set ‘R.M.N.’ probes a ubiquitous crisis

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

CANNES, France (AP) — Director Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes Film Festival entry “R.M.N.” is set in an unnamed mountainous Transylvanian village in Romania. But the conflicts the film examines about ethnocentricity, racism and nationalism that permeate the multi-ethnic town could take place almost anywhere. Of all the films competing for the top Palme d’Or prize at Cannes, none may be quite as of the moment as “R.M.N.” The film, using a Romanian microcosm, captures the us-vs-them battles that have played out across Europe and beyond, wherever immigration and national identities have collided.  The director says his film is not just about one country but about the universal questions that every country faces.