The 2011 Academy Award winning best foreign film, In a Better World, is this month's film choice. This movie is impressively directed and superbly written. It is a powerfully emotional, thought-provoking drama with terrific performances from a superb ensemble cast.
The storyline is compelling. Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in Denmark and his work at an African refugee camp. Anton is estranged from his wife and his eldest son, Elias, is being bullied at school until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London with his father, Klaus. Elias and Christian bond over the mutual hatred of the bully, Solfus. The boys also witness the bullying treatment of a violent mechanic towards Anton (Elias's doctor father) who prefers to handle the situation peacefully. The boys, however, have another plan for both the bully at school and for the mechanic. Ultimately it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy.
We hear a great deal about bullying at school and in war-torn countries, but this film also addresses the issue of adult bullying. How do we handle blatant breaches in acceptable behaviour? Added to this issue, the movie touches upon divorce, cancer and poor starving children in Africa. The tough questions will stay with you through the resonant exploration of rough justice in the modern world.
Director Suzanne Bier excels in this humanistic field with other successful movies. In a Better World earns her the Academy Award for her work in coaxing and combining both subtle and theatrical performances from her actors that place her at the top of her game. Her strength is storytelling and her ability to find actors to do those stories justice.
In a Better World plays at the Century Theatre in Innisfail on Sunday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m. "See you at the movies."
