subject: In a Better World Movie online [print this page] In a Better World Movie online In a Better World Movie online
If you want to get the attention of the Oscars, there are a lot of boxes you have to tick. In a Better World covers pretty much all of them, which is no doubt why it won the Academy's Best Foreign Language Film award a few weeks back: big social issues, good-looking cast, crushing poverty, cute kids with issues, a script that avoids easy answers but manages to find a happy ending hell, it's a wonder any of the other nominees even bothered to turn up for the Oscars, this one was such a lock.
Fortunately, In a Better World turns out to be a lot more than just a collection of trite, feel-good clichs, despite an opening that no doubt had the Oscar voters lunging for their ballot forms five minutes in: Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) is a Swedish doctor working in a refugee camp in Africa, helping the sick and injured, giving a soccer ball to the local kids, and generally doing good. Then a severely injured pregnant woman is rushed in, her belly sliced open it seems the local strongman likes to take bets on the gender of unborn kids, but doesn't like to wait around to find out the results.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, young teenager Christian (William Jhnk Nielsen) gives a reading at his mother's funeral. He's not a happy individual, and moving back with his father to Denmark doesn't seem like the best way to bring him out of his shell. His new school seems to be rife with bullying, mostly directed at Elias (Markus Rygaard), a teen whose buck teeth have made him a target of constant abuse. When one of the bullies bounces a basketball off Christian's face as a warning to stay out of it, Christian bides his time then hands out a beat-down with a knife-to-the-throat chaser.
What's this got to do with the African doctor? Turns out he's Elias's father, but his return home causes more problems than it solves: not only is he (painfully) separated from his wife, but he's a man of peace, refusing to get into a fight even when provoked and for Elias, Christian's approach of fighting back hard and often even chance you get seems a lot more appealing.
In its broad strokes director Susanne Bier (Things We Lost in the Fire, Brothers) has crafted a pretty straightforward morality play, but thankfully the lecturing is non-existent, the wider issues coming up naturally as the characters struggle with their own personal problems.
The kids carry a large part of the film with their performances and they're both excellent, Nielsen grim and introverted, Rygaard more open and more confused. They might not be doing the right thing all the time but it's not like the adults have any answers either, and Anton's work in Africa increasingly reflects the struggle of his son to know when it's right to lash out.
In the end, the picture here is of a world and the various nature shots, especially during the end credits, make it clear that this is a picture not just of individuals, but of a world where everyone has to make their own way, and the best anyone can do is to try and look out for each other.
