Wow. I'm glad others have seen it! I feel like talking a bit about it- and yes I would warmly recommend this original film to everyone, Danish language or no. It's a very good and thought-provoking film. Both in its strictly intimate relationship portrayals, - be it spouses, lovers, parents and children; and in the depiction of the contrast between outwardly comfortable life in the suburbs in one of the Western European countries and the hell that can play out in the mountains of Afghanistan. And the extreme impact on people who find themselves going from one to the other in no time at all.
**spoilers**Concerning the "declaring him dead" thing - I figured that was realistic, given the helicopter explosion and tip into the lake. That was quite sudden and very overwhelming for a (what I assume) modest-budget Danish film. If that was observed by other military personnel, and bits and pieces of flotsam found from the wreckage, I could buy it that they'd think noone survived even if all bodies were not retrieved.
After all, they hadn't declared the other prominently featured captive for dead even though he'd been gone longer, poor soul. (The actor who played that role kept distracting me with his presence because he has had a significant role as a naive and extremely straight-laced cop in Denmark's most popular cop series "Anna Pihl". OTOH, this movie did not feature Mads Mikkelsen among the cast, and I swear that's quite unusual for Danish films these days!!
)
What I struggled most with was the timeline in general - Afghanistan vs. Denmark. The two captives didn't have water for drinking and so I assume they didn't have any opportunity to shave - yet they had no more than a slight stubble once events played out to the dramatic culmination and our man returned home. But back home in Denmark, he'd been declared dead, had a service, life had gone on, his brother and sister-in-law slowly developing rapport....
So how long was he really gone for?
Concerning the most horrenduous scene in the film - I had
no idea what I was in for!
I totally expected Mikael to refuse to take part and to have to watch the other guy being beaten to death by the Taliban - and then to be saved himself in the nick of time, only to have nightmares and guilt later over having survived but not having been able to help the other. I did not at all anticipate the gruesomenesss of what happened - I mean, the modern war movies I've seen are all Hollywood stories, I think. Imagine Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise doing *that*. It was difficult to buy it because of my heroic anticipations, but maybe much more realistic all the same than I feel comfortable even
contemplating.
I honestly don't see how a person would *ever* manage to get on in life, after having gone through that. I really, really, really don't.
I am very curious about whether or not that scene has been sanitized in the US version to present the older brother in a more heroic and less active but (under the circumstances) helpless light. My guess is, they've changed it.
--
Otherwise I very much agree - the more intimate and underplayed scenes worked the best. And that include scenes between younger brother and his sis-in-law, so if that is Jake's role, - I'm looking forward to those. He does do understated emotion well.
All the Danish actors were good I thought - except I thought the two brothers' father was acted with too little subtlety, he became a little too much of a charicature to me both in his relationship with his two sons, and in his sorrow.
Topic: Jake Jake Jake! (Read 3188958 times)