Review of The Five Obstructions (2003) by Tanya K — 01 Apr 2008

This film is about humility - how far is an artist willing to go for his art? Trier comes up with the interesting idea of challenging the artist, in this case Jorgen Leth, by making him face his own fears through recreating his masterpiece under ridiculous conditions.

Seemingly comical at first, it's not long before we realise there's nothing funny about what Trier's attempting to do as he pushes Leth almost to breaking point. The viewer's head is left spinning when Trier ultimately reveals that the film was never really about Leth but rather about Trier's struggle at finding his own humility.