Phillpott, In a Better World

In a Better World tells such a traumatic but beautifully haunting story about two families that are brought together through different acts of revenge. I had never seen this movie before so I found myself “trading” sides quite frequently. I didn’t know what character I wanted to succeed in the end because at one point or another I was cheering for each of them and being disappointed in them too. For most of the movie, I was completely convinced that the title should have remained The Revenge because almost everything in the plot of the story revolved around some type of revenge. Christian (William Jøhnk Nielsen) beats up Sofus in retaliation for hitting both Elias (Markus Rygaard) and himself. Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) allows the African community (that he takes care of as a doctor) to kill the man that has been butchering pregnant women in the community. This murder is in retaliation (or revenge) for the killings he has done. And Anton wants revenge on him also because the man seems to really enjoy the fact that he has killed these women. And Christian wants revenge on his father because he feels as if the father wished for his mother to die. Instead of directly dealing with this head on, Christian puts all of his efforts into getting revenge on Lars for hitting Anton. So at first glance, I was sure this movie was only about revenge.

Yet, the ending is so fairytale-esque that I had to realize this movie was about something deeper than such a base emotion. Almost everything that could go wrong in this movie does, but everything comes together in the end. Everyone is forgiven for their “sins” or transgressions, and relationship bonds are stronger than ever. So the movie was showing the extent of the human soul. Even after it has been stretched to the limit, a person’s soul (or heart) can heal and can still move forward. This movie is telling its audience that violence is not the way to a better life. Forgiveness is the only way for a good life. So I stand by the second title this movie was given, In a Better World. I’m sure it was only changed so that American sensibilities would not be offended and would actually watch the entire movie because they knew that a better ending was soon to come. This movie surprised me on so many different levels.