"In a Better World" is a gripping cinematic experience that had me by turns boiling with rage and tearing up at moments of tenderness. The boys, for their part, are not persuaded and take matters in a dire direction. He explains it to them, and then takes an extraordinary step to prove his principles, but we sense that he's really convincing himself. The boys' budding machismo cannot comprehend why Anton does not fight back. While he is at home, Anton breaks up a fight between Elias' little brother and another boy, and the other boy's father (Kim Bodnia) reacts with rage, slapping Anton in full sight of the Elias and Christian. Anton is a healer, and it pains him that the only wound he cannot mend is the one he left on the heart of his wife (Trine Dyrholm). The other major figure is Anton (Mikael Persbrandt), Elias' father and a doctor who works in the most wretched corner of Africa, stricken with poverty and warlords. "It does if you hit hard enough the first time," Christian responds with icy calculation. Until, that is, he escalates the situation in a shocking turn.ĭon't you know that violence never solves anything, his father asks him? Christian stands up for Elias, and as a result becomes a target himself. Elias is sweet-faced and harmless, with big liquid blue eyes and an expression of innocence. On his first day at school, he spies Elias being picked on by the schoolyard thug, Sofus (Simon Maagaard Holm). Christian has grown hardened, both toward his remaining parent and the world at large. It is unspoken but firmly understood that he blames his father (Ulrich Thomsen) for, in his eyes, abandoning his mother and then abandoning Christian himself with his frequent business trips. until.Ĭhristian is the new boy at school, the son of a recent widower. Theirs is a world where fathers are loving but largely absent, where bullies roam the school unhindered and abuse is simply to be endured. Bier, her young actors and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen perfectly grasp what it is like to be a boy on the verge of manhood, when possibilities for both good and evil are endless, and relationships with friends gain heft as those with parents fray. The story revolves around two 12-year-old boys, Elias (Markus Rygaard) and Christian (William Jøhnk Nielsen), in a pair of performances amazing from performers so young, stark and unadorned. No one in "A Better World" is entirely a villain, and even the most saint-like character has flaws and doubts. It does not settle for simple answers, recognizing that sometimes fighting back is the most satisfying response to aggression, but understanding that violence almost always begets more of the same. This stunning film from Danish director Susanne Bier ("After the Wedding") is a searing emotional journey between the polar edges of the human heart, both violent and pacifistic.
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