Armand
the piece who defines the movie is the profound humanity. that fact explains its status of dark sketch. because, more important than story is the admirable acting. a film who seems be a trip in middle of instincts, pain and broken masks, it is, in fact, touching exercise of self definition.the image, the script, the performances are real good. film about sin in its deep dimension, it is religious out of the ordinaries rules of genre. because it is not exactly about the faith but about the sense.because the image is the lead character. a film like a parable. cold, honest, impressing. a special story about the choices and their price. it is not a bad idea to see it. maybe, for discover the world. maybe, yourself. in a different light.
jotix100
The peaceful rural setting for this story does not give a clue about how bad things will turn out in the end. Johannes, a successful lawyer that has returned to his origins, is working on his house. He has help from a Bosnian refugee, Alain, a man whose past conceals the tragedy he has lived. Alain has come to Denmark looking for the peace he never got in in native land. Johannes' wife Pernille is seen early in the story trying to teach her two children to be accepting of other people that might not think like them.Everything changes in the serene landscape as Lars, brother of Johannes, and a long distance truck driver, gets distracted on the road and hits Anna, a woman that is kindness personified. Lars panics after he finds the crushed body and decides to get it out of the road to erase his crime. Getting rid of the evidence is not easy. He decides to keep some of the bloody pamphlets that Anna was carrying when she was struck.Lars, who is a drunkard, hangs out with guys that, like him, love womanizing and drinking. As Lars comes into town, he spots Alain, whom he despises because he considers an interloper in his country, aggravated by the fact the man is a Muslim. Lars sees in this man a scapegoat to cover up his crime. So, in pretending to be friendly to the immigrant, he plots how to peg the killing of Anna to Alain.Ingvar, who employs Lars, decides to fire Lars for being late. Lars has planned to come to the town's fair with his buddies and create trouble for Alain. Getting Alain drunk, triggers a series of events in which Ingvar decides to go through the route traveled by the innocent Alain, where he discovers Anna's mangled body. Helped by Lars and his drinking partners, Ingvar decides to go after the Bosnian, who Johannes has taken home. What follows is a riot of monumental proportions because Johannes decides to stand against Ingvar and the rioters. When all is said and done, Johannes wants no more of the life style he wanted because he is disillusioned of the people he thought to be kind and welcoming."Deliver Us From Evil" is a sobering account where people's prejudice and xenophobia come into being from such unexpected sources that it is shocking. Director Ole Bornedal examines a quiet community where things are gentle in a tolerating Danish society like the small town in the story. Liquor and drugs are the instruments to kindle a mob when the news of the killing of a beloved lady, the wife of a pillar of that society. The indignity to have a foreigner in their midst that can do such an evil act, sparks the reaction, fueled by losers like Lars, and his idiotic pals. Jens Anderson is the evil Lars, a man that shows no remorse in hiding a crime and fueling the temper of his gang to create trouble. Lasse Rimmer stands in contrast as Johannes the man that has made something out of himself. Lene Nystrom's Pernille strikes a right note, showing an affinity with the material. Mogens Pedersen and Pernille Vallentin make a valuable contribution. Dan Lautsen's cinematography enhances our enjoyment of the film, as well as the incidental musical score by Stefan Nilsson and Johan Liljedal.
ianfaepaisley
There is a tragic accident in rural Denmark. Accidents, being accidents, can't be predicted and neither can their consequences. Things escalate, but the question is how far, and why, who'll back down first, and why? At the start of the film the narrator hands out some basic background info about the major characters, so you think you understand them and you probably do to some extent, but stereotypes are a major motif here... As one character says "N***er is just a word we use for anyone who's different. They're people too". Does it matter that there's no black people in the film? Well... A bit of racial prejudice, a bit of class prejudice, some personal grudges, basically plenty of reasons for people to see the worst in each other and excuse whatever they do when caught up in a crowd. Including YOUR reasons - you're maybe an urban liberal judging these provincial types, or a refugee judging those who supposedly welcomed you, or someone who didn't get a lucky break in life judging middle class smart-arses. Scapegoats are always handy, like an excuse for a party. An excellent film, shocking and moving but with delicate and humorous moments, somehow the most poignant and supposedly banal touches seem surreal in the context of general nastiness. And no, provincial Denmark isn't really like this, it's just a film. (Having said that, sometimes I've been the only white person on a bus in London and nobody's even noticed me, but as a dark-haired stranger in the Danish countryside I've been severely stared at on buses). Anyway I digress - stop reading these reviews and watch the film. Now!
Charbax
Lasse Rimmer delivers an amazing performance in his first movie role. This movie is full of fun, witty, dark humor, it's action-packed, the Cinematography is pretty sublime.This Danish Film actually has many deep cinematic moments. It now makes me want to watch all the previous movies by Ole Bornedahl. Just Another Love Story, The Substitute and I Am Dina, yup I definitely now want to go check those out. Cause the direction in this film definitely gives me a certain confidence that Ole Bornedahl is one cool danish film Director who knows how to make good film and who knows what he is doing.Lasse Rimmer is known in Denmark for his part in Danish TV history's funniest TV show called Casper and the Mandril appointment from 1999. It may even be the worlds best TV show ever made. I cannot wait to see Lasse Rimmer in more (ups! Beware the spoiler alert!) psycho-killer- roles (end of spoiler alert), Lasse Rimmer does it awesomely! Standing Ovation! Really!Denmark has deep problems with racism and integration of immigrants in actual society. If this movie can become one of the most influential and most successful Danish movies of the year, it could make a big contribution to solve this whole problem in the Danish consciousness. It does not at all try to teach viewers a lesson of morality. It instead uses racism and conflicts of social groups in such an extremely blatant manner, that one can only sit back and laugh very loudly from the belly. In fact I heard people at my screening laughing pretty loudly and strangely pretty often times, but people didn't dare make a standing-ovation, I think movie-goers should do more standing ovations even at regular film screenings in regular cinemas when the film makers are not in the room.Danish Cinema, as far as I see it, does also have too small an ambition to create really good fiction moments in movies, and rather goes with realistic situations. This movie instead already goes much further in the area of complete insanity, deep psychopathics, action-packed killings, awesome and fun dialogs. This is a step for Danish movies that goes in my opinion in the right direction. Go at it!