IMDB plot summary: August 1925 on a Danish farm. Patriarch Borgen has three sons: Mikkel, a good-hearted agnostic whose wife Inger is pregnant, Johannes, who believes he is Jesus, and Anders, young, slight, in love with the tailor's daughter. The fundamentalist sect of the girl's father is anathema to Borgen's traditional Lutheranism; he opposes the marriage until the tailor forbids it, then Borgen's pride demands that it happen. Unexpectedly, Inger, who is the family's sweetness and light, has problems with her pregnancy. The rational doctor arrives, and a long night brings sharp focus to at least four views of faith.
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Starring Henrik Malberg, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Emil Hass Christensen, and Cay Kristiansen.
This movie deals with a *lot* of questions about religion and God in a very moving story. I loved the overall themes of the story and felt like they fit together very nicely. A lot of the time when a movie tries to tackle issues like this, it overlooks the personal stories, but the personal stories were clearly at the center the whole way through, which made the religious themes even more powerful. Excellently done, and very easy to watch. 4 stars.
(Mild spoilers in this section of the review.)
Best Part: Johannes was a captivating character.
Worst Part: I was not overly thrilled with the ending. It may grow on me, but at the time I felt like it was cheating.
Flickchart: #433, below Spirited Away and above State and Main.
No comments:
Post a Comment