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Reviews
Fluerne på væggen (2005)
What a confused movie
"Fluerne på væggen" is the latest release of director Åke Sandgren, who is perhaps best known for giving us the amusing and profound dogma movie "Et Rigtigt Menneske" (2001). This movie purports to be of the political thriller variety which at least in Denmark has been given a new lease of life with last year's blockbuster success "Kongekabale".
"Fluerne på væggen" follows the story of My Larsen (Trine Dyrholm), a distinguished director of documentary movies who finds herself in the middle of an identity crisis. My is contacted by an ex, now working as a spin doctor for major political party "Venstre", who wants her to produce a documentary about "the human face of politics" to promote the party in the coming election. The idea is that My is sent out to cover the political life of a model local council run by Venstre mayor Svend Balder (Lars Brygmann).
Through a variety of maneuvers including the use of hidden cameras and employing her sexuality for personal gain she gradually discovers how all is not as it seems under the professional exterior of the model city council. At the same time however she finds herself being drawn into a personal involvement in the conflict leading to potentially fatal consequences for herself and her acquaintances.
Comparing "Fluerne på Væggen" to "Kongekabale", which I liked, I find several major weakness with this movie. First of all, I find none of the actors to be particularly convincing in their representation of their characters. There is a certain aura of awkwardness whenever a character utters a sentence.
Lars Brygmann in my view presents far too introvert an attitude to be credible as the charming yet dominant sociopath, he is supposed to represent. He practically only ever speaks when spoken to and seems to lack a pro-active attitude of his own. Lars Brygmann's strong side is in portraying anxiousness not manipulation. Unfortunately, the latter is what this role requires.
The romance that evolves between the two leading characters appears to me wholly implausible. Apart from their sexual relationship the only emotional basis upon which it is founded is a brief conversation between them, where the mayor claims that honesty and truth are not necessarily the same. To 'demonstrate' this he calls his wife from the hotel room where he has just had an extra-marital affair and lies to her about how he is lying in bed at the hotel room thinking about her naked. This apparently leads to My reflecting for herself that 'he makes me feel safe'.
My's actions and decisions throughout the movie appear poorly considered and mostly a result of outside events to which she reacts emotionally. At no point in the plot does one get the impression that My is anything other than a pawn of events introduced by other actors.
In general the plot fails to convey the intense, cynical rationality or passion that one would expect to be the essential drivers in a political thriller. The actions of the dominant actors appear to be random, emotionally driven yet without any believable portrayal of the emotional base behind the characters motivation. To top it off the movie seems to lack faith in the suspense potential of its own genre choosing to revert to become more of an action drama throughout the later part of the movie. The conspiracy which the plot centers around is poorly sketched and it seems to me the director has been satisfied to project the impression that this guy has done something bad rather than delve into the substance of why this is bad, who does it affect and what do the ones affected do to try and avert the impact of the decision. Perhaps this is because of a superficial understanding of the political decision making process and how it may be perverted on the side of the scriptwriter. The end result is that "Fluerne på væggen" becomes not so much a political thriller but rather a confused and endless sequence of scenes shot with a hand-held camera in hotel rooms, cars and conference rooms.
The use of a hand-held camera and the sometimes physical struggle between various characters to edit the documentary seems to underline a point that the truth in politics depends not so much on honesty but on who is sits at the editing table. This may be an interesting point but it would be better served by a drama centered around a more clear cut conflict of interests between dominant actors with a firm set of convictions and motivations.
Barbara (1997)
An immortal story of romance impressively performed in a scenic setting
A faithful adaption to the screen of Jørgen Frantz-Jacobsen's internationally acclaimed novel. Anneke van der Lippe performs admirably well in the lead role although she is up against the formidable odds of having to represent one of the most fabled literary portrayals of a woman in the history of Danish (and Faroese) literature. Jesper Christensen also gives an impressive performance as Johan Hendrik Heyde - the justice - who has retired from active participation in the game of love, but nevertheless seems to understand best the inherent paradoxes with which romance abounds.
The movie features many touching and humorous scenes as well as magnificent scenery filmed on location.
Although published in 1939, the book behind the movie was recently chosen to be among the best 25 Danish novels of the last century in a nationwide poll carried out by the two leading Danish newspapers. Among other titles this places the story in the company of masterpieces by authors such as Karen Blixen, Johannes V. Jensen and Martin Andersen Nexø. A fact which it would seem to me lends little credibility to the view of an earlier (Brazilian) commentator that the plot is supposedly of poor quality or unsympathetic.
Besat (1999)
Old wine on new, shiny bottles
With a plot that seems to have been heavily inspired by productions such as Warlock (1989), Outbreak (1995) and "Riget" (1994), this movie uses the Danish medical community as exemplified by the National Hospital to build an instant atmosphere of impending doom.
Unlike "Riget", which featured a plot that ended up in a Twin Peaks-like parody of surrealism, the focus in this movie is not on the medical community itself, but on the investigation by a young doctor of the mystical spread of a strange new virus.
In parallel with this activity we have the police pursuing a man suspected of arson (impressingly performed by Udo Kier).
The two threads end up colliding in a way that will not be revealed here.
The movie contains some interesting scenes from Romania, where the young doctor tries to collect a marrow sample to analyse the virus. These scenes are quite important in building the atmosphere so important for a thriller, and they are executed nicely.
Basically, all horror movies reiterate the same old message of "how terrible it is, when you're powerless." The interesting new part is usually the way in which ingredients are mixed, conveying a story full of scares, to which the contemporary viewer can relate.
"Besat" is no exception from this rule: As a true child of it's time, the dominant themes used in this movie are the threat of a global epidemic, cultic prophecies of apocalypse, the horrible living conditions of the poor in Eastern Europe, and how a man's single-minded pursuit of his career can turn him into a monster.
All in all some good, well-executed entertainment, but don't expect to find anything new here.
Savior (1998)
For once a war movie without heroes
This is a movie which manages to portray the consequences of modern day war on people's lives with a degree of realism that I have yet to see in most other films of the genre - one possible exception being Kubrick's Apocalypse Now.
The most tangible aspect of this realism is found in the fact that no character in the movie can claim to be a 'hero'. The concept of a 'war hero' I consider to be a dangerous pitfall, which many movies of the genre are only too happy to fall into. Probably because it makes the horrors of war slightly more meaningful - and thus bearable - if they are construed as 'obstacles', which the 'hero' must overcome in order to achieve his ultimate aim.
In 'Savior', there are only victims.
The movie explains this by describing war as a state of society where the ones most likely to survive are those who have let go of all values. Notice how neither Guy nor Vera - the main characters - ever fully manage to reach this state of total cynicism even though they both try. This is why a quest to regain their humanity is sure to end up victimising both of them.
In summary, the main achievement of 'Savior' is in making tangible the viewpoint of Thomas Hobbes, who said that war must generally be avoided, because in war, human life is 'brutish, nasty and short'.
Natasa Ninkovic deserves praise for her frighteningly believable performance as Vera.
Last Night (1998)
Interesting idea but too superficial
The idea of exploring how people would spend their last night before the end of the world is admittedly novel and deserves credit simply for putting the main emphasis on people's lives rather than on empty gimmicks and special effects.
However, I think that most of the options explored are too far removed from how I imagine that people would react when confronted with imminent doom. Bearing in mind what people are planning for their Y2K-celebrations one can't help but shrug at the conventionalist behaviour displayed by most of the characters in the movie with a notable exception played by Arsinée Khanjian (the lady in the tramcar).
This film could have been a wonderful opportunity to explore the contrast between value-nihilism and ethics, but my subjective feeling is that this topic was given only fleeting attention: The focus was on presenting a 'smorgasbord' of possible scenarios much like Robert Altman's "Short Cuts", where I feel the movie would have been more interesting if it had concentrated on following one or two characters with the rest being displayed as 'value-nihilistic background noise' - a role which I feel the 'roaming crowds' did not live up to. They reminded me more of your typical high school graduation party on the loose (with guns, mind you).
If one is interested in an alternative approach to portraying the contrast between value-nihilism and ethics, I would recommend Predrag Antonijevic's "Savior" (1998).