In Northern Norway during the 1860s, a little girl named Dina accidentally causes her mother’s death. Overcome with grief, her father refuses to raise her, leaving her in the care of the household servants. Dina grows up wild and unmanageable, with her only friend being the stable boy, Tomas. She summons her mother’s ghost and develops a strange fascination with death as well as a passion for living. Family friend Jacob encourages Dina’s father to hire Lorch, a tutor who introduces her to the cello. When Dina is old enough, she marries Jacob and moves to Reinsnes, a port he runs with his mother, Karen, and his stepsons Niels and Anders . Niels doesn’t like Dina’s wild ways, or the fact that she has taken over accounting duties at Reinsnes. Dina’s eccentric tendencies become even stronger, eventually leading Jacob into an accident of his own and bringing Tomas back into her life. —IMDb
Ole Bornedal is among the most internationally recognised directors in Danish film. His big breakthrough was the thriller Nightwatch (Nattevagten)” (1994) which he both wrote and directed. Three years later he filmed the English remake Nightwatch starring Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte and Patricia Arquette. In 2002, Ole Bornedal premiered the magnificent Dina (Jeg er Dina), Scandinavia’s largest film project ever, which then went on to receive a number of awards at international film festivals all over the world. Ole Bornedal’s recent original fantasy horror/thriller The Substitute (Vikaren) starring Paprika Steen, was also received with great acclaim. Currently filming, Deliver Us From Evil (Fri os fra det onde). –Revolver Entertainment
I Am Dina, at first viewing, packs the power of a knock-out punch, much like the ones that Dina (Maria Bonnevie) hands out now and then to various offending and offensive males.
In retrospect… read review