Few directors have addressed the issues of the past decade as courageously as Denmark’s Susanne Bier. With the much celebrated Brothers, she raised troubling questions about the First World’s relationship with the Third. After the Wedding pursued this subject further, contrasting the conflicting demands of the domestic and the societal. Her latest, In a Better World, explores similar terrain while offering a devastating critique of masculinity.
In a war-torn African nation, physician Anton (Everlasting Moments’s Mikael Persbrandt) confronts a steady stream of tragedy and loss. Much of what he faces can be traced back to a vicious and sadistic local warlord. Back home in Denmark, his estranged wife, Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), is concerned about their eldest son, Elias, who is picked on mercilessly by the class bully, Sofus.
When new kid Christian arrives in class, he and Elias bond over a mutual hatred of Sofus. Surly and vicious since the loss of his mother, Christian is hardening into a rigid and ferocious manifestation of masculinity. His heartbroken father, Claus (Ulrich Thomsen), is finding it impossible to cope with Christian’s behaviour. The volatile situation is exacerbated by Anton’s return home and by an encounter between Anton, Elias, Christian and a violent, bullying mechanic (_Pusher_’s Kim Bodnia).
At the heart of the film is the issue of male responsibility, specifically what it means to stand up for yourself and others. Troubled and confused by what he faced in Africa, Anton has no credible response to Christian’s demand that he answer the mechanic’s abusive behaviour in kind. The painful, dangerous rift between Christian and Claus, and the growing distance between Elias and his distracted parents, only makes the situation worse. Left alone to solve their problems, Elias and Christian grow even closer. As their clandestine acts of vengeance become more drastic, the film builds to an almost unbearable intensity. Far more than a mere exercise in suspense, the film raises essential questions about a world that has grown increasingly complex. –TIFF
Director and occasional scriptwriter Susanne Bier essayed a series of helming assignments in her native Denmark during the late ‘90s and early 2000s, that clocked in as lucrative and popular enough to kick-start a highly respectable career for the filmmaker. Though Bier’s credits officially date back to 1992, she achieved her first significant breakthrough in 1999, when she directed The One and Only — a well-received romantic comedy about dating, marriage, child-rearing, and adultery. That film reportedly grossed a heftier amount than any picture in Danish history; a follow-up, the Dogme 95 drama Open Hearts (2002), brought Bier her first international crossover hit and paved the way for much additional success. Shot according to Lars von Trier’s hyper-ascetic filmmaking rules, it told of two couples whose lives become hopelessly and tragically enmeshed following a severe automobile accident. Bier’s Danish-language drama Brothers(2004) explored the feud that… read more
Once upon a time I woke up at 3 AM and had nothing to do. I remembered I had download a film. I turned on my laptop and checked it but had no planned to see til its end. Turned out I kept on watching. At 5 I went back to sleep. What a pleasure moment of my life.
Extraordinarily poignant story about the costs of the compulsion to assert dominance in every circumstance. I hope the actor who played Christian has a long, prolific career.
A beautiful piece of work by Susanne Bier. The movie is an intricate trip throughout feelings and moral dilemmas that go beyond circumstances - they're already part of human being. "In a Better World" is a deep and well-made film with a great photography and good performances. I don't understand reviews like Peter Bradshaw's by the way.
Susanne Bier's Oscar winner for foreign language film manages to avoid most of the pitfalls that could trip up its subject of intolerance, pacifism and bullies. http://eddieonfilm.blogspot.com/2011/02/everyone-understands-language-of-bully.html
Lars von Trier’s Melancholia leads with eight.
We'll be moving along a lot more swiftly in this second round than in the first. Ready, set, go. "In A Better World is another strong entry
Sabe quando você sai do cinema sabendo que acabou de assistir à um grande filme, mas por algum motivo não conseguiu se envolver? Foi o que aconteceu comigo logo após a sessão de “Em Um Mundo Melhor”… read review
Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts… read review
‘In a Better World’ takes place in a small-town Denmark and a refugee camp in Africa. Anton, a swedish doctor, lives between his home and a refugee camp in Sudan. He and his wife, Marianne, are close… read review