Review of Emanuel Parvu’s film Three Kilometres to the End of the World. A poignant portrait of a boy subjected to homophobia in a Romanian village.

Although its form is not particularly surprising—with its dry style and documentary precision typical of many “social cinema” films—this feature film has the merit of reminding us just how difficult it still is to be gay in places where homosexuality is considered a shame, or worse, an illness or a curse.

A father who is not so loving after all

It all begins with Adi (Ciprian Chiujdea), a gentle 17-year-old boy who has come to spend the summer with his parents in their village in the Danube Delta. On the surface, everything is fine: his parents are loving, Adi relaxes, goes out and flirts with a handsome tourist. But when his father finds him after he returns from a night out, Adi is covered in blood: he has been beaten up in the street by two other boys. Silent, he tries to curb his father’s eagerness to find the culprits. After considerable effort, the father eventually tracks down the attackers, but the motive behind the assault changes everything: Adi was attacked because he was seen kissing a boy. And around there, that is a real problem…

Realising that his son is gay, the father backs down to avoid a scandal: he is warned that if his son’s homosexuality becomes known, his whole family will become the shame of the area! Not only will the father no longer support his son but, worse still, he will try to “cure” him of his homosexuality by force…

A film that denounces a reality that still exists

It is truly chilling to see people, especially parents, so brainwashed by a system and its beliefs that they end up terrorising their own children. Alas, this remains the sad reality in a number of territories. This is what this simple yet terrible film denounces.

Film produced in 2024 and available on VOD

Other films about homophobia to discover

• Black Night in Anatolia
• Burning Days
• Hunting Scenes from Bavaria