Review of In a Better World (2010) by David L — 22 Aug 2014

Danish master and film festival favorite Susanne Bier became a household name in 2007 with her brilliant Hollywood drama "Things We Lost in the Fire". She didn't remain in Hollywood though, but followed her commercial breakthrough with another Danish drama "Haevnen," which became an international success story of its own, earning Bier a deserved Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film as well as a Golden Globe.

Written by Anders Thomas Jensen, the film built up into an intense story about two families whose lives intersect through the friendship of two 12-year-old boys. Christian (William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen) has just moved to Denmark from London after losing his mother to cancer. His relationship with his father is strained by grief and anger. As a new kid, Christian gets immediately targeted at school by bullies who usually torment Elias (Markus Rygaard). The boys team up and start plotting for revenge. In the schoolyard you wound or get wounded, Christian figures.

Elias is going through a family crisis of his own. His parents have separated in the aftermath of an affair by his Swedish father Anton (Mikael Persbrandt). Anton has just reunited with Elias, his mother and younger brother to settle things after being away as a doctor in a Sudanese refugee camp. The possibility of a divorce is looming, but things remain civil, both of the parents being diplomatic and consciously reasonable.

As the original title suggest, themes of justice and revenge are pervasive throughout this film. The dramatic catalyst is an argument between Anton and a mechanic whose child has a fight with his younger son. The mechanic turns the argument physical with Anton deciding to be the better man and withdrawing from the situation. He tells Elias and Christian who witnessed the incident that he is the moral superior. But the boys don't agree. They have just seen a scene from their schoolyard repeated in the adult world, and they crave what they feel is justice. The seeds of tragedy are planted.

The script is absolutely perfect, holding tension, nuance and meaning in every scene. What might have easily turned into simplistic equations between the cruel world children inhabit and the more two-faced one upheld by adults are balanced carefully. The acting is superb throughout and Bier once again proves she's one of the masters of contemporary European cinema.

Bier succeeds in examining the bestial aspects of humanity both in an intimate, psychological level through the interaction of the characters in Denmark. She's equally successful in dissecting those same themes with a grander scope in the scenes taking place in the refugee camp in Sudan. There extreme violence against women is burdening Anton, who has to confront direct sadism and dehumanization practiced by a local warlord.

There is nothing naïve about any of this. At times it feels as if the film is echoing the chillingly plausible nihilism of12-year-old Christian, but it doesn't take this easy way out either. "Haevnen" showcases how people repeat the simplifications arrived at by the children throughout their lives, see a cycle of vengeance as inevitable and rationalize their own involvement as required justice. It also reminds us that the idea of a child's innocence implies something about anyone who reacts with violence. Bullies, negotiators and reactionaries exist in the schoolyards and in conflict zones all over the world. There is very little difference between them; anyone can be turned into whichever at almost anytime.