In A Better World Movie Review from modmove

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In A Better World
Following the death of his mother from cancer, ten year old Christian (William Jøhnk Nielsen) embarks on a self destructive path to hit back at the world. At school he befriends the bullied Elias (Markus Rygaard) and his first target is Elias' tormentor. Through his viscious retributive attack, Christian and Elias learn that the oppressors of the world can be beaten into submission.

Elias' father, Anton (Mikael Persbrandt), is a doctor without borders commuting from his home in Denmark for weeks-long stints in a medical camp in third world Africa. He is a heavily principled man with a strong sense of social and moral justice. Like his son, he must also come to terms with acrimonious conflict in his life, both in Africa and at home, whilst trying to be a good paternal role model despite being in absentia for extended periods of time.

It's somewhat appropriate that In A Better World comes hot on the heels of the global youtube sensation that was the large Western Sydney kid breaking his schoolyard bully in spectacularly furious fashion. In A Better World examines such acts and their inevitable fall out from the point of view of not just children but adults as well. As a society, we place much emphasis on schoolyard bullying as a social problem (naturally because we see our children as highly vulnerable) but bullying in the adult sphere is also prevalent and likewise presents a moral conundrum: is it an eye for an eye, or does one turn the other cheek?

Through an elegant economy of narrative, director Susanne Bier explores the complex nature of revenge versus forgiveness and while the film inevitably concludes in favour of the latter (no surprises there) it's far from preachy; instead giving each point of view the intelligent analysis it deserves whilst admitting that there are no easy answers.

A worthy winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film 2011, In A Better World is a powerfully affecting film whose themes will stick with you long after leaving the cinema.
Stuart Jamieson
www.sonyclassics.com/inabetterworld


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