Director Susanne Bier’s In a Better World(2010) illustrates the emotional toil of love, loss, family, friendship, and revenge. The film takes place in Denmark where the lives of two families suddenly become entwined as two young boys meet and forge a friendship through the bullying of another student, as well as an African refugee camp where women are daily being lost due to a warlord playing games with the lives of the societies people as a young doctor tries desperately to save them.
Anton(Mikael Persbrandt), a doctor, works at the refugee camp and is emotionally torn between his two homes, one where he must save the lives of those who cannot save themselves, and the other where his family lives, waiting for him to return if even for a mere few days. Anton, quite obviously the hero, deals with many characters and is the voice of calm and reason, teaching his son that violence is not the answer. His son, Elias(Markus Rygaard), struggles, growing up in a cruel world without a father there to guide and protect him befriends Christian(William Johnk Nielsen), a young and angry boy who just lost his mother to cancer and blames his father for his unhappiness. Together they get mixed up into a world of crime as they get into more dangerous activities as they attempt to fill the voids in their lives.
The original title of this film is Hævnen, meaning “The Revenge”, however is was changed to In a Better World when it came to the United States. Both titles give off opposite tones, one a dark and twisted air while the other may fill the audience with hope, yet they each in their own way describe the film perfectly.
The original title is easily recognized through the actions of Elias and Christian. Revenge runs between characters and shapes their personalities. Christian blames his father for the death of his mother and his unhappiness, and takes his frustrations out on the school bully and a man who fought with his new friend’s father. Elias acts out of character and begins to behave badly as a way to ignore the fact that his father is not around, and Anton attempts to teach them that revenge leads to nothing more than heartache and another “jerk” as he puts it, yet is so overcome with hatred that he practically condemns a man to his death when provoked.
Although for a large portion of the film, The Revenge appears to be the best title, the one chosen for the United States aptly illustrates the small but powerful theme running through the movie of families and people as individuals growing together and apart, yet all searching for their niche in the world. Everyone has an idea of the perfect place, yet must suffer through the daily struggles of being human, and in this film the audience learns that it is not only actions that count, but reactions, and one must be prepared for the consequences of what they do or say.
I believe both titles are apt for the film and could not choose one nor the other. The only reason I can thin of for changing the film’s title for the United States would be to emphasize that the movie was not a macho man type of movie, as could be associated with the first title, but a film that had a deeper meaning. The changing of the film title was most likely done to boost sales and get more people to go see the film, as well as emphasize the morals of the film as opposed to merely the actions and emotions of characters.
Libby, I agree with your comment about how both “titles are apt for the film and could not choose one nor the other.” However, I must disagree about your assessment on how the original title, Haevnen, places an emphasis with a “macho man type of movie.” Now, I understand why revenge does have a negative connotation, but humans (as imperfect as we are) commit revenge almost everday-whether implicitly or explicity. When I read the Danish title, I thought about how all the characters are committing revenge on so many levels. For instance, Marianne commits revenge on Anton by kicking him out of the house because of his affair. Despite Marianne’s temper, I believe she does not fit into the “macho man type of movie” and her revenge would be justified due to the circumstances. Besides Anton’s revenge, I think it is important to notice how Christian’s father, Claus, gets his revenge on his dead spouse by telling his son that he assisted his mother to her own death (more than likely he promised her that he wouldn’t tell). Now these two examples that I provided are subtle instances of revenge, and I think the most violent type of revenge can be seen with the boys (Elias and Christian) and Anton/the villagers. Therefore, this assessment made my lean towards the Danish title whether than the English one.
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