Thursday, 1 August 2013

The Word

Ordet (1955)

Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer this film based on the play of the same name stars Henrik Malberg, Biritte Federspiel and Emil Hass Christensen. A religious patriarch living on a farm in Denmark struggles with his religion and the religion of those around him.

As the play this film is adapted from was written by a priest it is not surprising that it has a pro-religious conclusion but the general message of the film is that people should be less concerned with the dogma or nature of their faith and focus on believing instead. Mostly the story works well but those of us of a non-religious persuasion may well find the miraculous ending too easy as I did. What I liked about the execution of the film was the long takes with slow camera moves that really draw you in at times.


4/5

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