Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Marcus Rygaar, Ulrich Thomsen
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 119 mins
Synopsis: ‘The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.’
After winning the Acadamy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Oscars, IN A BETTER WORLD finally gets its cinema release in the UK. It begins in the deserts of Africa where we establish that Anton (Mikael Persbrant), a swedish missionary doctor is struggling with the pressures of not just having to deal with his patient’s malaria diseases and infections but also the brutal local kingpin’s attacks on pregnant women. Over in Denmark, Claus (Ulrich Thomsen, soon to be seen in the prequel to John Carpenter’s science fiction classic THE THING) has relocated from London with his son Christian in order to come to terms with his wife’s recent death which has seen his relationship with his son deteriorate.
Anton’s son Elias befriends Christian after the two boys find a way to deal with the local school bully when Christian protects Elias from an earlier altercation. It’s at this point we find that the two boys are loyal to each other when the attack on the bully goes a little too far. With Christian and Elias each having problems in their family lives they find solace in one another’s company, before Christian begins to push his new friends loyalty to the limit when Elias’ father Anton is attacked in front of his boys on the street upon his return from Africa.
The film is shot in a handheld style which makes you feel if you are intergrating around the actors themselves, this is best effective at the school scenes when Elias is being bullied, the camera work giving the feeling of being like one of the other children having to catch a glimpse between the crowds of the school fight. They are some stunning landscape shots particularly in scenes at Anton’s summer house where we soon realise he has been banished there by his estranged wife (Trine Dyrholm). These scenes work due to the fact that they always appears to be dark clouds over these beautiful locations, giving a sense of the mood that the film is beginning to take a darker turn not just in the children’s friendship but in Anton’s return to Africa.
The performances from the cast cant be faulted each actor showing commitment in their roles but with the story and plot moving along it always seems as though the director is preaching that loyalty combined with a pursuit of revenge is a bit too much, whether it’s the location is the deserts of Africa with the Idi Amin type warlord or in the bullied school yards of Denmark . Ulrich Thomsen’s character doesnt get enough screen time to show why Hollywood has taken a shine to him recently and there is also a lack of depth shown to the way he his dealing with both the death of his wife and his son’s increasingly disturbing behavior.
All round a powerful film with powerful performances but just lacking an emotional kick to elevate it above other similar themed family dramas.
