292. ORDET (1955)

Running Time: 126 minutes
Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Written By: Kaj Munk, from his play
Main Cast: Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Birgitte Federspiel, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Cay Kristiansen
Click here to view the trailer

WELL YOU GOTTA' HAVE FAITH

I promise I'll eventually get to Man of Iron and finish of the little Wajda tribute, but for now I'm just fitting in what I can so that I can hit my August goal while I still have time. I still need to squeeze in three more movies between tonight, tomorrow & Monday and we'll be good to go.

Ordet (meaning "The Word") was originally a play, penned by Kay Munk. It begins by introducing us to a family: The Borgen's, who happen to reside on and own Borgen Farm. The patriarch is Morten Borgen (Malberg) and he has three sons, all of whom still live on Borgen Farm. There's the eldest, Mikkel (Christensen), the youngest, Anders (Kristiansen) and the middle child, Johannes (Rye). Johannes also happens to be insane, something that happened to him while studying theology. Now Johannes thinks that he is Jesus Christ and often wanders off. Meanwhile, there is also Inger Borgen (Federspiel), Mikkel's wife - together the two have two little girls and are expecting a third baby. The family is close knit and the family believes in God, although the film brings their brand of faith into question. A subplot revolves around Anders' interest in a neighbor girl, Anne Petersen, to which Anne's parents swiftly object to her involvement with the boy. The Petersen's believe that their faith is superior to the faith of the Borgen's and thus, don't want Anne fraternizing with Anders. On the night that Morten goes to talk to Mr. Petersen about the possibility of becoming in-laws, Inger goes into labor and there are dreaded complications.

SPOILER ALERT!

Let me start by saying that I actually really liked this, despite not usually liking to mix religion and film. Let me follow by saying that I don't know how to go about writing this review, as I just don't usually like to get too into discussing religion, for fear of alienating or offending people. I believe in God, it's well documented on this blog, but my belief system, I think, is a little different. I don't go to church, I cuss like a sailor and I'm not above telling a fib or two. I don't really consider myself a Christian, per se. Whenever anyone asks me, I just say "I'm a believer" and leave it at that. For me, that's enough. So pardon me while I try to skirt around this subject with kid gloves.

So what is faith? I've always been partial to that passage in the Bible that says "Faith can move mountains. You can say to a mountain to crumble into the river and if you truly believe it will happen, it will". I'm paraphrasing, but I've thought a lot about that particular passage over the years. Is anyone really capable of doing this? I can go outside right now and tell a nearby mountain to crumble, but in the back of my mind (and probably the front too) I'd have serious doubts of it actually happening. If my wife is running three hours late for dinner and she's never late and when she is, she texts to say she's going to be late - well, I can start praying, but I'm still going to worry myself sick until she walks in the front door. A man with strong faith, would say his prayer and then forget about his wife being in danger, because he'd then KNOW that she was fine, that his faith in God would bring his wife home that night. Very few, if any, people in the world have that sort of faith. This is why Jesus Christ was such a marvel - he wasn't a magician. He turned water into wine and walked on water because he truly believed he could and had no doubts about God's power to assist him in doing these things.

Ordet brings the so called faith of the Borgen clan into question. Those in life who claim to have faith in God rarely do. I could travel into the bible belt of the U.S. and find the most devout, church going Christian there is and I bet they too wouldn't have the type of faith that would raise the dead. That's what Ordet is about. Morten Borgen claims to be a man of higher faith, as does Peter Petersen - who actually thinks he's even more superior to Borgen - yet, when Inger dies, they never give raising her from the dead a thought, it would be preposterous to them to even propose this. It's quite a fascinating little film, that makes you think, perhaps, about your own faith, your own beliefs. The film is not anti-Christian, it simply brings the beliefs and holier than thou attitudes of Christians into question and puts it under a microscope.

RATING: 7.5/10  I could probably write a book about my thoughts on Ordet, it's characters, it's themes, it's messages, etc. but I already feel like I'm mumbling and I think I've hit my key points.

MOVIES WATCHED: 958
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 43

August 29, 2015  5:04pm

427. GERTRUD (1964)

Running Time: 116 minutes
Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Written By: Carl Theodor Dreyer, from play by Hjalmar Soderberg
Main Cast: Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe, Ebbe Rode, Baard Owe, Axel Strobye

AMOR OMNIA

Longtime fans of my blog will know that Carl Th. Dreyer and myself go together just about as well as oil and water. However, as I continue my trek through the 1960s, I stayed positive (as I usually try my best to do) and went in with an open mind.

The film tells the story of Gertrud (Pens Rode), a middle aged woman who, upon the films opening, abruptly tells her husband Gustav (Rothe), that their marriage has ran it's course and she has found another lover. Her husband pleads with her, but Gertrud stands strong, barely showing any emotion and sticking to her guns. In the following scene, we see Gertrud with the previously mentioned lover, Erland Jansson (Owe). It's immediately obvious that her Erland is simply using Gertrud, possibly treating her as a wild oat or proud of the fact that he's been able to lure a woman away from her husband. However, Gertrud is head over heels with him and it's in this scene that she finally seems to show some emotion, that being happiness. They make love and the next day Gertrud accompanies her husband to a ceremony honoring poet Gabriel Lidman (Rode), a former lover of Gertud's and someone who wants her back in the worst way. During the ceremony, Gertrud finds out from Gabriel that Erland was at a party the night before telling everyone who would listen about his affair with Gertrud - a party that Gertrud asked Erland not to attend. While Gertrud's mind is on Erland and his unseemly ways, Gabriel pours his heart out to Gertrud, making it known that he wants her back. However, Gertrud seems to have her mind set on locking the door to her heart and throwing away the key.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

Even the "1001" book speaks a little ill of "Gertrud" when it calls it an "old man's film" and states that, like it's heroine it should "approached on it's own terms". The film actually had me hooked from the word "go", as we're treated to an approximately ten minute opening scene of Gertrud telling Gustav that their marriage has pretty much run it's course and that they've grown so cold toward one another, that it's time to call it Splitsville. As stated above, Gertrud (played well enough by Nina Pens Rode) stays pretty straight faced through the entire debacle, as Gustav begs and pleads for answers and understanding, which he doesn't get enough of. I was hooked and assumed I was in for a dialogue driven movie. The dialogue, in the opening shot, between Pens Rode and Bendt Rothe was every day dialogue, very real and heartfelt. Following that opening scene, someone must have injected the actors with a shot of Shakespeare's blood, because everyone seemed to transform into a poet, via their dialogue. Seriously, does anyone really talk like the characters in the film were talking? I mean, sure, it all sounded very pretty and eloquent, but it just wasn't real and sounded so fake and well written, that it was almost impossible to just let yourself fall into the films embraces, because you were constantly being reminded that this WAS a film. In my opinion, dialogue this good is bad, because it's too perfect to be real.

Also, at times I enjoyed Gertrud's lack of emotion, but then it got to be a little annoying, to the point that I just wanted to yell at the screen for these actors, especially her, to show me SOMETHING! You have these people pouring their hearts out to one another, expressing love, despair and lust and yet their faces stay solemn almost the entire time. COME ON! In short, once you get past the opening scene, the thing drops off pretty fast. I like the fact that they stuck to a dialogue driven script, as I usually enjoy those, but here the dialogue was too hokey to really mean anything and the actors were to emotionless to grip me. Besides those two MAJOR things, I guess it's an average affair, but nothing that I'd EVER want to watch again. It drags like a MoFo and by the end I was having trouble keeping my lids open and was forced to even rewind a few times to catch some text that got by my weak eyes. There seemed to be some sort of message buried in there and it seemed to be "Don't fall in love, or you're going to get shanked right in the heart!" Not a message that I'm an advocate of, but apparently Dreyer was. I did find it interesting that Gertrud turned down her husband (who wanted her badly, but had bigger priorities), Erland (who she loved and lusted over, but who wasn't faithful and who paraded their love like a trophy) and Gabriel (who wanted her very badly, but who had hurt her in the past), yet, even in her old age, she still remained friends with Axel and that they were friends and friends only. I kind of liked that and while I don't completely understand it, I still found it appealing in a way.

RATING: 4.5/10 Maybe....maybe....maybe I'll watch it again someday and maybe I'll find some things that I overlooked this time around. But for now call it a misfire.

MOVIES WATCHED: 316
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 685

August 7, 2011 10:19pm

61. Vampyr/The Vampire (1932)

Running Time: 72 minutes
Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Written By: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Christen Jul, from the short story Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Main Cast: Julian West, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronimko

THIS MOVIE SUCKED...IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE...

"If you've never seen a Dreyer film and wonder why many critics regard him as possibly the greatest of all filmmakers, this chilling horror fantasy is the perfect place to begin to understand."

The above is a quote taken directly from the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book and one of the most absurd comments that I've taken away from Mr. Schneider's text. Suffice it to say, that I did not like "Vampyr" and thought it was very boring, very pointless drivel. If I had to make a recommedation based on the two Dreyer films I've seen, to a person who has never seen a Dreyer flick, then it would take me all of about three seconds to reccomend "The Passion of Joan of Arc", which I didn't love, but compared to "Vampyr", it was a sheer masterpiece.

To explain the plot of "Vampyr" would be really tedious and boring for me to do, as their isn't really a whole lot of plot to review. The film tries it's best to be a horror film and fails miserably. I can say, however, that I kind of see the world that Dreyer was trying to capture on film. The atmosphere that he was striving towards was a very murky, creepy, spooky one and one that he may pull off, but with the lack of story, the atmosphere falls flat on it's face with nothing to support it.

"Vampyr" was certainly not my favorite film thus far, and may very well be my least favorite. Despite a very nice POV scene, in which we're shown the point of view of a corpse looking out of a casket, as it's being carried down the road, "Vampyr" failed to bring me any closer to realizing the greatness that many proclaim, Carl Th. Dreyer possesses. I don't know, maybe I'm just missing something. Maybe the artist that is Carl Th. Dreyer is somewhere, somehow being lost as I view his pictures, but if that is the case, then that's fine...I'll go on and live the rest of my life not realizing the greatness that is Carl Theodor Dreyer, if it means I'll never have to watch this terrible movie again. Sorry Carl, you and I just aren't connecting somewhere.

RATING: 1/10 I nearly went with a ".5/10" but we'll call one the lowest of the low and leave it at that.

NEXT UP: Love Me Tonight...Rouben Mamoulian directs and while I've certainly heard the name before, I've yet to see one of his films. This one should be up Monday, as I'm not expecting any Netflix delivery until then.

January 2, 2010 1:41am

41. La Passion de Jeanne D'Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Running Time: 82 minutes

Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Written By: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Joseph Delteil

Main Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, Andre Berley, Maurice Schutz

THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF SAINT JOAN OF ARC

My introduction to Carl Theodor Dreyer came tonight as I watched The Passion of Joan of Arc and thought it was just about an average film.

The Passion of Joan of Arc tells the story of the trial of our film's heroine, as she was put on trial for claiming to have heard revelations from God and seen visions of Saint Michael. The film depicts the judges that persecute Joan, as the evil doers, as they poke and prod at Joan with question upon question and claim that the visions she sees are not of hevenly descent, but rather that of Satan.

We're shown the full trial, her imprisonment, torture and execution. At one point, when Joan is threatened with being burnt at the stake, she folds under pressure and signs a confession, being sentenced to life imprisonment. Later she recants her confession and is, of course, executed.

The performance from Falconetti was quite superb, as Dreyer executed the use of close-up shots to an art form. The expressions that are plastered on Joan's face throughout the picture are quite unforgettable, as tears stream over her face and she reacts to the judges threats and demeaning questions. Despite the terrific performance, I felt the film was lacking something for me. For one, I watched the Criterion version of the film, which allows you to view the film with or without musical accompaniment. If you choose to have music played over the film, its a score laid out in 1994 by a composer Richard Einhorn entitled "Voices of Light". I felt that this could only take away from the experience and opted to watch the film free of music. Maybe I should've made the other choice, as watching total silence really left this film a little emotionless, again, despite the great acting. Other than the music thing, there was just something not clicking between me and this film, and while I did find the subject matter interesting, I found the movie strolling right in the average neighborhood.

RATING: 5/10 We'll call it right down the middle and leave it at that. Maybe someday I'll rewatch the film with the music and see if that helps at all.

NEXT UP: Steamboat Bill Jr...My farewell to Buster Keaton

October 22, 2009 1:01am