Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

gavin6942 How do we understand faith and prayer, and what of miracles? August 1925 on a Danish farm. Patriarch Borgen has three sons: Mikkel, a good-hearted agnostic whose wife Inger is pregnant, Johannes, who believes he is Jesus, and Anders, young, slight, in love with the tailor's daughter.All I wanted to say about this one was a general comment on the cinematography in the Scandinavian countries. Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman seem to prefer black and white over color, and they both know how to make it look sharp and crisp, the contrast and shadows even bolder than any use of color could allow. Today, making a film in black and white is hard to do unless you are independent... "Pi" comes to mind. It is an art form that should not be dead.Beyond that, this is a beautiful take on faith and "the word". Again like Bergman, this seems to be a preoccupation of Scandinavian cinema. Perhaps it is not -- maybe only the great films (and thus those that reach America) have such a worldview... but it is wonderful just the same.

tomgillespie2002 Family patriarch Morten (Henrik Malberg) lives in rural Denmark with his three sons - faithless father Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen), the deranged Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) who after going crazy studying theology, now believes himself to be Jesus Christ, and youngest son Anders (Cay Kristiansen). Anders is in love with the daughter of the leader of a strict religious sect, Anne (Gerda Nielsen), and asks both his own father and the father of his love, Peter (Ejner Federspiel), for her hand in marriage, who both refuse. Morten eventually agrees with the help of Mikken, but comes to loggerheads with Peter over their religious beliefs.I don't know much about the work of the great Scandinavian director Carl Theodor Dreyer, as the only other film of his I've seen is the fantastic Gothic 'horror' Vampyr (1932). I do know that his films are notoriously bleak, and is a favourite amongst Lars von Trier and his Dogme troupe. Ordet is no exception to the rule, as Dreyer films his interior scenes with minimal props, and allows the actors and their voices to fill the screen instead. The result is a beautiful and humanistic study of religion and the miraculous.The main crux of the film focuses on the two fathers' views on religion, with Morten's beliefs allowing him to embrace life, while Peter lives a stricter, more sacrificial life. All the while Johannes, their apparently demented son, wanders the dunes and condemns the now faithless world they live in and the fact that they are ignorant to the fact that he is indeed Jesus Christ, and all they need is faith. The family's beliefs are tested when Mikkel's pregnant wife Inger (Birgitte Federspiel) goes into premature labour, and the local doctor fights to save both the her and the baby's life. The film builds towards an inevitable climax, but Dreyer's execution is that of elegance and beauty that allows one of the most moving, uplifting, and satisfying final scenes I've seen in cinema.The film is slow moving, but the subject matter warrants such an attention to detail. There is also an underlying coldness to the film (this is also a Dreyer trait), and all the characters seem emotionally hesitant. Dreyer himself was adopted and experienced a lonely childhood, with his adoptive parents constantly re-enforcing the fact that he was lucky to now have a family and a home. Although these childhood memories clearly influence his work, including Ordet, he also sees hope and promise in humanity, which makes comparisons to the Dogme movement unfair, as there is real human emotion here. A true masterpiece, cementing Dreyer's reputation as one of cinema's most innovative, visionary and intelligent film-makers.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Michael Neumann The classic status of Carl Dreyer's Passion Play has weathered years of change in attitude and taste better than the film itself: a stiff, theatrical meditation on the fundamental conflict between religion and faith. The opposing creeds are represented by a pair of sturdy, rural Danish households engaged in a polite theological rivalry, the flames of which are fanned by a Romeo/Juliet romance between the youngest son of the more humanistic family and the daughter of the puritanical clan down the road. The point is well taken: a healthy appreciation of life is more important than a dogmatic pursuit of an afterlife. But in what many believe to be his finest film Dreyer approaches the story like an undertaker to a corpse, carefully arranging each scene in a static tableau and embalming the script in the formal delivery of each line of dialogue.

MartinHafer Up until late in the film, I was rather bored by this film. However, I am glad I stuck with it, as I really enjoyed the way the film concluded.The film is set on a farm in Denmark and involves the Borgen family. They are in some ways a traditional family with traditional Danish religious values. The biggest non-traditional aspect of the family is John--the seemingly crazy member of the family. He happens to think he's Jesus!! Yet, despite this, his family loves him and they have no intention of placing him in an institution--and he seems harmless.Several plot twists arise in the film. The first is a conflict between the more orthodox Borgens and the Peterson family, who are closer to charismatics in their Christian beliefs. When one of the Borgen boys wants to marry a Peterson girl, their families come into conflict--especially as the Peterson parents consider the Borgens to be damned for not sharing their exact beliefs. The other major twist is death and what happens next. I'd like to say more but can't as it would spoil the film. However, I was impressed how in an increasingly cynical world when it comes to religion that director Dreyer makes a film that is unashamedly religious and creates A LOT to talk about once the film has completed.Overall, a very slow film but one that's worth watching. The acting is very good and the plot is just bizarre and creative--and, as I said, it makes you think. Odd but satisfying on so many levels.