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Saturday, April 9, 2011
MOVIE REVIEW
In A Better World (Hævnen)
Seeking Refuge From Violence
In A Violent World
Markus Rygaard (left) as Elias and William Jøhnk Nielsen as Christian in Susanne Bier's
Oscar-winning drama "In A Better World (Hævnen)".
Sony Classics
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Saturday,
April 9, 2011
The sins of adults. Susanne Bier explores them through the eyes of
children in "In A Better World (Hævnen)" the Oscar-winning best foreign language
film for 2010. After a maiden foray into American film (with
"Things We
Lost In The Fire" in 2007) Ms. Bier returns to filming in her native
Denmark language with "Hævnen", a thought-provoking study of the effects of
violence on two different children in Denmark.
Full of humanity and the complexity borne of it, "Hævnen" explores two families.
Claus (Bier regular Ulrich Thomsen), a widower, has a son Christian (William
Jøhnk Nielsen) who is bitterly resentful of him. Christian's mother
succumbed to cancer and he hasn't let Claus forget it, blaming him for her
death. The second family is a separated husband and wife, Anton (Mikael
Persbrandt) and Marianne (Trine Dyrholm) and their two sons, one of whom, Elias
(Markus Rygaard), is bullied in school. Freshly arrived from London,
Christian comes to Elias's defense, getting into trouble for his efforts.
Christian and Elias are troubled by Anton's passivity when he's confronted by an
oafish, cowardly adult male. Anton has seen the results of violence at a
refugee camp on the African continent where he works as a doctor. He tries
non-violence as a solution, believing in the nobility and saintliness of his
stance. The film shades Anton as a merciful figure, exalting his
restraint. Is Anton ever blameworthy, however? Does a specific
scene betray or exemplify his values and principles? "Hævnen" tries
neutrality in this certain scene, and it's a good but tricky situation, even if
it may play
more to hagiography or mythology than reality. You'll instantly
recognize the scene.
Still, "In A Better World (Hævnen)" is a tense, intelligent and impactful drama
with few false notes -- one of them however, is an obvious boogeyman projected on the African
content. This is the only setback of "Hævnen" -- storytellers Anders
Thomas Jensen and Ms. Bier are too wise to have that particular image in their film, but
the point made is unmistakable.
Christian is full of the cynicism and anger many adults harbor.
Psychologically he's a grown up due to his mother's untimely passing but
maintains a "boys will be boys" attitude in his practical approach to life.
By contrast, Elias is still a child, untainted by the world around him.
Anton has managed to shelter Elias, while Claus is regularly rebuked by
Christian, chiding him for being so sheltering, even patronizing to him.
Christian's sense of manhood is cut from the Gary Cooper or John Wayne school:
steady, committed, unwavering.
None of these riveting characters are perfect, and Ms. Bier's direction on a
rural and village-type landscape affords numerous transitions and contrasts.
We get to understand more about the parents behind the children, and their
histories. "In A Better World" is an eloquent sociological exercise.
The film asks us to ponder what in our DNA makes us violent, and whether our
parents, our experiences, societies, men, differences in family structure, or
all of these, are to blame.
One of the most interesting aspects of Ms. Bier's film is how peripheral
characters make telling but subtle impacts on the question presented in the
prior sentence of this review. One character, a bully, sets the table in
this film's moral quandary. We never see his parents. Others witness
a violent act but there's much implied. Ms. Bier invests heavily in
the power of suggestion -- something that has always played so impressively in
the situations she presents in her films. There are flickers of "Lord Of
The Flies" tribalism in parts of "Hævnen": those split-second moments where
deeper or more base human impulse takes over, or thoughtlessness reigns.
Seemingly left unexamined in "Hævnen" is the violent nature of European
societies and other societies in the world, and all of their external
influences, though there are faint echoes of an answer: in one line of dialogue
someone offhandedly notes the noise of London as compared to the tranquility of
the villages and farms of Denmark, as if these somewhat incidental things are
useful insights to understand any impetus for anti-social behavior. Are
they? The answer may not be as simple as one may think.
Maybe there's no accident that Christian and Elias share the same birthday: July
7 -- perhaps a bright-line reference to July 7, 2005 -- the date of the bombing
in a London Regional Transport Tube station. This date coincidence may be
nothing more, but it is a testament to the layered manner of "Hævnen" that any
and everything presented in this rich, tightly-scripted drama is up for serious
and thoughtful consideration by the audience.
Ms. Bier uses none of her trademark close-ups of eyes or body parts to evoke
feeling and perception here, but there are plenty of evocative faces and dual
faces in two-shot framing as well. Despite strong and disturbing questions
presented about violence and whether silence equals violence, there's warmth
within numerous characters. Especially noteworthy are the performances of
Ms. Dyrholm as Marianne, Elias's mother, and Mr. Nielsen as Christian.
Their characters are contained but committed, driven by their appetite for
answers, and for the truth. They wield daggers of resentment at specific
men. They are unforgiving in some ways but always compelling.
"Hævnen" leaves a distinct impression, making you think for a while after you've
left the theater. Ms. Bier engages in an important discussion, and we are
forced to keep it going.
With: Bodil Jørgensen, Elsebeth Steentoft, Martin Buch, Anette Støvlebæk, Kim
Bodnia.
"In A Better World (Hævnen)" is not rated by the Motion Picture Association Of
America. It contains violence, language, bullying and brief sexual content.
The film is in Danish, Swedish and English languages and African dialects with
English language subtitles. The
film's running time is one hour and 53 minutes.
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