Renaudin, In a Better World

　
　
　
Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier turned our some of our most compelling moral questions into a compelling drama In A Better World. The film uses the international community as part of its framework. The two families it presents lead separate lives that take individuals far from home, but a small Danish community ends up being the focus of events. In an inhospitable refugee camp in Africa, Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) at his wits end and is emotionally and physically drained by his work as a doctor. Anton commutes between Africa and his home in Denmark, where his marriage to Marianne (Trine Dyrholm) is falling apart. The separation is especially hard on 10-year-old Elias (Markus Rygaard) their young son. The film then takes the viewer to London, where Claus (Ulrich Thomsen) has just lost his wife to cancer. Claus is distraught, and we are then introduced to his young son Christian (William Johnk Nielsen). He manages to stay composed though he is clearly upset. Claus moves his son back to Denmark to live with his grandmother, to the same town. Christian becomes a classmate of Elias' and the boys become friends. They bond when Christian, offended at the way Elias is treated, acts in a way that ensures that the bullying comes to an end.

The Swedish title for In a Better World is "Haevnen," or "Vengeance," and it refers in part to Christian's state of mind. He's a boy with a lot of fury in him who sees himself as a righteous soldier compelled to exact justice, even revenge, for the wrongs of the world. It's a notion that terrifyingly complicates what is to come as the film's plot kicks into a higher gear. "Haevnen", the original title, fits aspectsof the film well in some parts because one of the movies main themes is revenge. There are numerous examplesof revenge: Christian hurting the bully, when Anton is working in Africa and throws the murderer to the ground and lets all of the village people kill him. In my opinion, In a Better World, is the better title because what the actors and director are trying to portray is that if there were no revenge and there was peace than we would all be living in a better world. The film shows that there is nothing good that comes out of revenge. Revenge is the vengeance that people who are victimized seek and carry out against those that have wronged them. revenge on those who have wronged them.

After reading many reviews and wathching the film, one of the aspect In a Better World is successful in is comparing and contrasting the moral worlds of children and adults, showing how difficult but essential it is for each group to learn from the other. Some of the questions that beg us to question our own morality when viewing this film are: how do we react to the presence of evil and injustice when, as an adult or a child, it intrudes on our world? It's easy enough to say "you fight it," but the reality is never that simple. When do we act, how far do we go, what price are we willing to pay? When, if ever, is retaliation legitimate?