2005 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Audience Award Dramatic
A brilliant family drama which deals with momentous and horrifying events in an understated way- even the kids are excellent and Connie Nielsen has to be one of the most gorgeous women on the planet. The Americans liked this film so much that they recruited the director Susanne Bier to make Hollywood movies like “Things we lost in the fire” and gave this film the starry re-make treatment featuring Tobey McGuire and Jake Gylenhall- but the Danes got there first and it’s worth seeing the original before the US version.
A Danish soldier in Afghanistan who is presumed dead, loses his wife to the wastrel brother who has just been released from prison. Bier exhumes the hidden and denied agonies within the family relationship while charting the distress generated by this incident. A mature, emotionally volatile film in the Dogme style.
A truly engrossing and powerful movie. Brilliant acting by all of the cast and exceptional camera work. Directed by Susanne Bier who never fails to impress. There is one extremely disturbing scene which is not for the faint hearted but it is integral to the plot. I cannot praise this movie enough.