Romanian director Apetri's powerful Outbound has some of the tragic intensity, at least in its ending, of De Sica's Bicycle Thief or René Clément's Forbidden Games. First-timer Apetri, aided on the screenplay by a trio of experienced writers, has made one of the best films to come out of the new Romanian cinema. It takes place when a woman prisoner who's served two years of a five-year sentence gets a one-day pass to attend her mother's funeral. She has no intention of turning herself back in. Her day is a chronicle of desperation and hope, beginning with her brother and ending with a doomed train ride. Whatever the crime was, it seems the sullen-faced Matilda (Ana Ularu) wasn't the perpetrator but instead has taken the hit for Paul, the father of her 8-year-old son Toma and a thoroughly sleazy character. Matilda and Paul made a deal, but just see if she can hold him to it. But she has other scores to settle and hard knocks to take.

The Romanians show a penchant for methodical real-time intensity and Apetri is no different, though a key to the power here is a willingness to elide unnecessary details, even maintain a degree of mystery, in the interest of focusing, as the great Italians did, on a few powerful scenes. Even if Matilda is out of jail and some key scenes are enacted in a wide, desolate open space designated by the original title, Periferic, she still seems to have the bars around her, holding her in the claustrophobia of a life that went wrong early. The actress, with a face as simple as a boy's, has a fixed, sullen glare that sticks in your mind.

The narrative is in three parts focused on three names: Andri, Paul, and Toma. We find out very vividly who they are. In a prologue Matilda (Ana Ularu) leaves prison on a 24-hour pass to attend her mother's funeral. Right outside the gate she meets up with a fat trucker (Ion Sapdaru) in a sleeveless shirt: it's summer, and everybody is sweaty. Her plan is to collect money to pay this man later to drive her to the port of Constanta, where she will catch a ship to smuggle her out of the country.

The first stop is Andri (Andi Vasluianu), Matilda's handsome brother. He's not pleased to see her, though he can't entirely hide fraternal feeling. She has disgraced the family, and also ill used him. His wife Lavinia (Ioana Flora) is even more openly hostile. Nonetheless they reluctantly take her to the funeral, and in that ride we feel Matilda's determination and toughness. Lavinia's insults only make her smile. She ingratiates herself with no one, smoking a cigarette outside the cemetery and walking away from the table at the al fresco dinner afterward. Andri is shocked, maybe pleased, to learn he has an 8-year-old nephew, but he's not willing to take Matilda's son in, and Matilda leaves.

The next meeting is with the abusive, self-indulgent Paul. He will give Matilda only a fraction of the payoff, saying it's not due till five years are up. He has brutal sex with her, then reveals that their son, Toma (Timotei Duma), whom he was supposed to be caring for, is in an orphanage. So that becomes an additional stop before the truck ride to the ship, and it turns into a train ride, with more brutal surprises and the shattering finale, which yet has a poetic rightness about it.

The tight schedule Matilda must follow -- she has to meet the trucker by evening and must escape before the prison knows she's missing -- heightens all the action, but Apetri's directing never feels rushed and makes every minute count. Ularu may seem one-note at times, but her unwavering drive is the key to Outbound's urgency.

Cristian Mungiu of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days co-wrote the original story. Marius Panduru of Police, Adjective did the warm, brown-tinged photography.

Outbound has shown at Locarno, Warsaw and Toronto. Seen and reviewed as part of New Directors, New Films, the series co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from March 23 through April 3, 2011.

When we first meet Matilda, she is leaving prison. She has been granted a special permit so she can attend her mother's funeral. The nature of her crime is never quite known. As the door closes behind her, she seems to be uncertain as to what her plans are. A man in a truck is waiting for her. He is to take her to Constanta, a city in Rumania on the Black Sea.

The story is divided in three different narratives. Each chapter is titled named after a man. The first one involves Andrei, her brother. To say he is shocked in seeing her, is put it mildly. Neither he, or his wife, want anything to do with her. The root of the problem seems to be in that Matilda is paying for a crime. Andrei, reluctantly, agrees to take her to the funeral. Matilda's erratic behavior is seen as an affront for she never even sheds a tear for her dead mother. Matilda and Andrei quarrel and she manages to steal money from his car to go away.

The next story brings Matilda to a hotel in Bucharest where her husband Paul has been engaging in a passionate sexual encounter with a woman. Paul appears to be behind all the trouble that landed Matilda in jail. When asked about their son Toma, he confesses to have sent him to an orphanage for boys. What is more shocking to Matilda is that Paul does not want to give her the money he owes her. Paul is a shady character with a violent nature. He ends up raping Matilda, then takes her for a ride in which he also brings the first woman he was in bed with to a sort of meeting place. It becomes clear Paul is a pimp, enticing women that he will then sell to the local mafia to be taken to other countries where these unfortunate women will end up as prostitutes. After Paul ends the transaction, he keeps going with Matilda, but they begin fighting in the car, which makes him lose control as he hits a horse. Paul is either killed, or gets badly injured, but Matilda only ends up with a few scratches. She finds the money she is owed and a gun. She flees the scene.

Instead of meeting the truck driver, Matilda decides to go on to the orphanage where Toma is living. As she enters the building, Matilda is shown to a room, where three boys are fighting. Asking about her son, she gets no answer. She decides to grab one of the trio, forcing him to take her to Toma. They find the boy who seems to be in a car with a strange man. Toma shows all the signs of selling his body to men willing to pay for his services. Matilda takes him away, then calls the driver telling him she will go on by train to meet him in Constata. On the train, Matilda discovers her son is much too wise for his young age. Toma, in turn, sees an opportunity to steal her mother's money and leave her. At the end, we see Matilda by the waterfront staring vacantly into the distance.

"Outbound" shows a new Romanian talent, Bogdan George Apetri, making his full length directorial debut with this impressive film. In addition to directing, Mr. Apetri also contributed to the screenplay, which is a collaboration. It is obvious the director's message is closely related with the country in which the action takes place, equating to some of the aspects of the story to what his perception of a certain criminal element in Romania, a land where corruption appears to be rampant and somewhat out of control. There are several themes in the film. First there is the punishment Matilda receives as she covered up for Paul's crimes, something that is hinted, and never quite explicitly explained. Then there is the problem of prostitution and child sex hinted vaguely. Children abandoned in horrible places as the orphanage where Paul leaves Toma, is too cruel to imagine. Matilda's betrayal by all the men in her life is too painful an emotion for her to deal with.

Beautifully acted by Ana Ularu, she is one of the best reasons for catching this film which shows a woman preparing to go to freedom while dealing with aspects of her life. The acting is superb by the ensemble Romanian cast. Highly recommended to serious movie fans.