Welcome to
Denmark, or should I say Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th century? This
modern day hysteria-driven drama, tells the story of Lucas, a middle-aged man
with nothing left to offer but his own sorrow and the power of a child’s word
on society. Beginning in a seemingly quiet town, we are introduced to our
protagonist, painted in a quiet and trustworthy way and Klara, the one who
begins it all. Working in the Kindergarten, Lucas is loved by all the children
who cross his path, maybe a little too much. One day, Klara creates a toy heart
to show her affection for her father’s best friend, Lucas. Upon kissing his
lips in a moment of childlike innocence, Lucas senses that he needs to confront
the issue with Klara and tells her to not do that to anyone but her parents.
However, we are the only ones who know and see this, the rest becomes a game of
telephone beginning with Klara’s innocent feeling of rejection towards Lucas.
Next comes the lie. A few small words turns slowly turns the town against
Lucas. Lucas, at first, pays no attention his accusations and assumes it will
all blow over. Soon enough, all friends have left his side, including Klara’s
father Theo, who has been Lucas’ friend since childhood. The story progresses
with an onslaught of isolation and violence. With only a select few remaining
who believe in his innocence, Lucas lives his life in a whole new reality.
Realizing he has nothing to lose, he returns hostility towards an unsurly
supermarket staff and then again at his good friend Theo. We cut to a year
later when all is well and the group is together again to hunt. While in the
woods, a bullet is fired at Lucas and we see this was no accident and the story
is not yet over…
Thomas Vinterberg
and crew bring us into a suspenseful drama as we see the town slowly begin to
craze over Lucas and his apparent guilt. Point blank, the story line defines
this picture. We, as the audience, are given a truthful insight into the
situation and all of its nuances. However, the town only receives portions of
Klara’s lie and in a version of the childhood game telephone, we see how a few
innocent words can become a menace of their own. Through this technique, we are
able to empathize with Lucas and create disdain for the people who were so
close to him as they slowly turn him into a pariah. It has been a while since
I’ve seen the mob mentality of a small town be explored in a film and it was a
journey in which I found my self engrossed from start to finish. Apart from the
story, I would say that the cinematography was in classical form, with nothing
too progressive or abstract being used. However, the coloring of the film
showed the bleakness of the situation and the editing went hand in hand with
this aspect. Scenes were wonderfully juxtaposed to create the suspense that the
story called for and brought Lucas’ plight to heart. The mise en scene in a few
scenes dropped my jaw due to their impact. For instance, in the church on
Christmas Eve, we watched Lucas’ best friend begin to see his innocence and the
whole setting made complete sense within the story. This combined with the diegetic
score made this moment stand apart from the rest and at that point we saw Lucas
at rock bottom, all alone.
Overall, I would
give this picture the highest praise. All the elements worked in unison to
manifest feelings of empathy and hatred at the same time. Combining themes of
societal madness and what it means to be a lifelong friend, I walked away from
this picture with a smile on my face and a little hate for the mass mindset in
my head. I guess the main message of the film would be not to trust kids all
the time for they also lie just as convincingly as adults.
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