In A Better World — directed by Susanne Bier. Family drama. Treating bullies is the theme, and two eleven year old boys take matters into their hands, as does the father of one of them, a doctor in Africa. 118 minutes Color 2010.
* * * * *
One thing I love about doing this job is discovering the number of wonderful actors there are in the world. Of course, “a wonderful actor” also means the actor is also cast in the right role. Mikael Persbrandt is particularly interesting in the part of the Doctors Without Borders surgeon working in desert desolate Africa sewing up the stomachs of pregnant women a local warlord has been cutting up on a bet as to the gender of the child within. Back home in Denmark his estranged wife lives with his 11-year-old son as he enters a new school and makes friends with a brilliant, hate-ridden boy. The two boys enter into a fearful partnership in fearsome locales, for both boys are bullied badly. One of them is capable of murder, and he is right. The bully in Africa and the bully at home, and the bully in the acts designed to wreck the bully – these are themes which fascinate. But the film lets us in to the inner and secret workings of all these males, and each one of them is perfectly cast. Without William Johnk Juels Nielsen as Chris, the hater, the film is unthinkable. He’s an actor who sticks to his guns playing a character who will not give up. You want to kill him yourself. Markus Rygaard as Elias, his dupe, you want to shake into consciousness, but the young actor makes the character’s acts perfectly understandable. Trine Dyrholm as his mother won many acting awards in this role. But Mikael Persbrandt is the moral pivot of the film. He chooses his moment and it’s not the moment you thought it would be. His face is a field of subtle and selective response. He is always surprising; he is always right. And he suits the director’s bent to a T, for the taste for the director lies towards emotion, but emotion refrained, except when it is revealed as a defect of character. Then it is given full vent. In A Better World is a beautifully written and filmed and won many awards, including the US and Italian Golden Globe Awards and the Oscar of 2011 as the Best Foreign Film of the year. See it.
[ad#300×250]