R (2010)

Really Surprised!

one of my absolute favorites!

Excellent, a Must See

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

I liked this movie, but it made me reflect on how crazy and wrong the prison system is, even in a place like Denmark. I know many disgree, but I think that prison should be somewhere you go to become a better person, to find back to who you really are. Not a place to hae your soul tormented and your spirit crushed. This movie manages to show a world where you either do what it takes to survive, or you are destroyed. Some times you do what it takes, but you are unlucky or someone tells a secret to the wrong person, and you are still destroyed. In between all the violent "masculinity" and bullying, there are moments of humanity, like the friendship between Rune and Rashid and the seeming care the men have for a couple of birds. I liked the fact that we don't get to know too much about how Rune ended up in prison. He could be any regular guy, and that is the whole point.

I went to see this after I saw the trailer last week because I love the Scandinavian TV series that have been shown in Europe over the last few years. BTW, these series have been rated as "getting over the sub titles hangup" on TV....!! Anyway, I loved Borgen which starred some of the same people. However, although the acting/actors were first rate, and the photography good, if sombre, as it should have been, the story was trite. I haven't see Le Prophete to which it is compared, but I have seen Shawshank. I cannot understand the comparison with Shawshank, a much better movie, not really on the same subject, except superficially. It was gritty, nasty, illustrating well how low people can sink. So? As a movie supposedly about life in prison it was disjointed, bitty, disconnected. The general story line was clear, drug dealing in prison, but the relationships, the deals and the dealing, were poorly dealt with. As was said in the previous reviews the last 20mins was hard to take, being so far from the rest of the movie.For a production team with such a good filmography this is out of line.

Rune, a young criminal serving time, is transferred to a new prison where he must use his wits in order to survive. Not long after entering the facility, Rune is viewed as a good subject to bully by the most experienced criminals in his new home. Rune establishes himself as a new force after attacking an Albanian inmate by order of The Mason, one of the prominent inmates, who seems to control what is going on inside.Meeting Rashid, another man at the prison, gives Rune an ally that will stay true to him. Devising a plan to smuggle drugs, brings him to the attention of Mason's superior, the powerful Carsten. It will be only a question of time before Rune is found out. The atmosphere of "R" is bleak, at best. Comparisons to Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" comes to mind since both premises deal with behind the scenes life at a high security jail where men are thrown together and must be strong to survive. This Danish entry is co-directed by Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer. The strength of the film lies in the ensemble playing the directors got from the strong cast they amassed. It is not a film for those weak at heart, prison life being what it is, it shows in vivid detail what goes on behind bars, when criminals must survive, one way, or another.Johan Philip Asbaek, who plays Rune, makes a great impression in the way he approaches the role. Dulfil Al-Jabouri is seen as Rashid, the only friend Rune finds in that milieu. The supporting cast is excellent, mainly Omar Shargawi and Roland Moller. The oppressive atmosphere of the prison is capture in vivid detail by the cinematographer, Magnus Northenhof Jonck whose gritty photography is one of the real assets of the film.

I first have to say that i'm not a professional critic. It is very hard for me to find the right words to describe any form of art.43 is my age and maybe i have seen many movies in my life. The movies i saw the day before 'R' were 'The good, the bad, the weird' and 'I saw the devil'. The first was very good fun and the latter from the same director gave me a feeling of: I don't want to witness this. I'm getting to old for this kind of excitement.So with that feeling in mind I red the summary of 'R'. I had also seen 'un prophete' (great movie btw). Comparisons here. Masterpiece there. etc etc. I had to see it.The feeling of not want to witness this stayed until the opening scenes with the shady music, and Rune going up the stairs. And stayed with me until the end. After seeing this movie a week ago I still want to cry. I now realise that the director bathed me 99 minutes in powerlessness. This movie literally gave me, besides a sadness that stretches and stretches, a genuine fear for the prison system in my own socially secured country.Musically this is a movie that won't disappear in the shadows of more stylistic films like 'The deer hunter', 'Once upon a time in the west' and more recently 'There will be blood'. All with their masterpiece defining music scores. In the prison the camera captures the non existing distance of stares: of guards, inmates, grandmothers, Rashid and Rune. And what this did to me emotionally, was something i never experienced so profound before. A movie that makes your heart cry is one thing, but to go beyond that and mix the acting with this kind of realism is very special.The last fifteen minutes with Rashid played with my sympathy for the main character and was a big switch but made also clear that the story doesn't stop. And with that last zoom out the fridge door closes again. Can you compare Radiohead with The Beatles. 'R' is in my opinion emotionally in a league of it's own. But keep in mind my age. Maybe i'm just approaching a midlife crisis where crying gets easier, and tears just trouble my judgement.