MovieChat Forums > Children Underground (2003) Discussion > Ana...

Ana...

posted 16 years ago by kendrataylor
7 replies | jump to latest

I kind of got the feeling that she may have had fetal alcohol syndrome, or something genetic with a similar effect... in the interview with her mother, it seemed as though she had always thought her daughter was a little 'off', and that her step father considered her to be 'psychopathic'... I got the impression that she was perhaps mentally ill, but her parents didn't understand her disorder (and obviously didn't know how to care for her properly). Mixed with the very evident sexual abuse on her stepfather's part, and the minimal supervision and competence when it came to parenting (combined with the entrapment that came with the influence of aurolac), it was easy to see why she would have left home so many times.

Mihai, I felt, was a poet, and wise beyond his years. His commentary blew my mind... "we are all poor souls," he says. I'd love to see him now.

Is there a website for this film? I've looked around, but can't find one. It'd be amazing to see interviews of the kids now, six years later.

[–] Anduin1 16 years ago

she def had some fetal alcohol syndrome characteristics, its sad really

[–] justivyou22 15 years ago

Im glad to see someone els picked up on Miahai's brilliance. Some of the things that he said while sitting with the women and her baby really made me think. If only I could speak romanian, I'd like to see if these quotes are delivered with as much impact in the language used.

[–] amoga 13 years ago

Some of the things that he said while sitting with the women and her baby really made me think. If only I could speak romanian, I'd like to see if these quotes are delivered with as much impact in the language used.

I do speak Romanian and to me that monologue sounded like regurgitated bits heard from the people around him. The beginning ("This life is tough... Really... Very tough") sounded like the woman with the baby, with whom he (Mihai) just bonded. Then he switched to religious motives which he may have picked up from anyone (the woman, a priest or other reps of religious organizations dealing with the children in the street, other children,...).

And by the way, the translation wasn't 100% accurate, though it did retained the spirit of what Mihai was saying. A previous poster mentioned that he was impressed by the "we are all poor souls" part... well, what Mihai actually said was (to the best of my translating abilities):
"God... soon will come, He too... I won't know where we'll be... maybe in the ground or up... Some poor souls... some in the bag... All these we'll be killed... It may be good, it may be bad -- God knows... He helped us, He helps us... He brought us up, He made us, His path and... we live as we can."
(His grammar is a bit lacking, hence the odd translation.)

For the same part, the translation in the movie was:
"I think He will come soon. And nobody knows where we will go, either underground or high up. Some are unfortunates, others have the bag. We are all poor souls. Good or bad, only God knows. He helps us. He brought us up, this is His path and... we live as best we can."

[–] mungiu_rocks 12 years ago

I live in Romania and Mihai's language and the words he chose realyy showed me that he is incredibly clever, especially growing like that on the street and going only for 3 years to school.

[–] Vjcat 14 years ago

Yes, Ana's face definitely shows symptoms of some kind of genetic defect, poor thing. My god, I didn't expect anyone to steal my heart in this film the way that little Ana did. What a fascinating child, I could have watched an entire film revolving around her alone. Anyone know what's become of her, I have to find out!

[–] metabogy 13 years ago

I disagree, she doesn't seem to have the right facial defects for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It's hard to quantify mental issues when the child has lived most of their life on the street in horrible conditions, deprived of a family, possibly after being abused by her father and definitely being abused on the street (though it's not shown in the film, rape is rampant in these situations), not to mention the drugs. Her father calls her a psychopath for cutting herself and running away, but some kids do that over having their iPod taken away. It's just a terrible situation with idiot parents who don't understand anything.

[–] bomburmusicmallet 9 years ago

Just saw this last night, and came here to see if anyone else thought FAS. We have a family member (by marriage) with a child with FAS, and Ana reminded me over and over again of that child, except with a higher IQ (the child in our family is retarded). Couple that with neglect on the mom's part and who-knows-what kind of abuse from the stepfather, and this poor girl had a doomed childhood.