Election Night (1998)

The greatest movie ever!

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Blistering performances.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Anders Thomas Jensen's Oscar-winning "Valgaften" ("Election Night" in English) is about prejudices and how people will often vote based on these. Well, sure enough it came true. The current president of the US ran an entire campaign pandering to everyone's prejudices, and now those sorts of people are making inroads in Europe's governments. Could this in fact be the end of civilization as we know it? I haven't seen any of the other movies that got nominated for Best Live Action Short Film that year. They'd be hard-pressed to make as good a point as this one made. It might not be the greatest short of all time, but I recommend it as a warning of what can happen when people's base instincts manifest themselves. Worth seeing.

I just re-watched this great short film. And I have a new interpretation of it. I'll admit to being a bit of a Anders Thomas Jensen fanboy, as I love his humor.A year or two ago, I ran into the new term "virtue signaling". For the uninitiated: "Virtue signaling is the expression or promotion of viewpoints that are especially valued within a society, especially when this is done primarily to enhance the social standing of the speaker." This is often seen when a person labels and shames someone else for "wrongthink". Being racist, sexist, homophobic etc. Often for things that are completely innocent, or rather mild.I see the main character as virtue signaling. Already early on, he labels his friend a racist, because he doesn't want to drink Mexican beer. Thus attempting to shame his friend, and showing how virtuous he himself is. He continues in this vein, though with more reason, as he refuses cab-rides, because he finds the opinions of various cabdrivers objectionable. Thus he ends up traveling by foot, and fails to complete his original goal, of getting his vote cast, before polling closes. In an ironic twist, and perhaps a bit of karma, he himself gets labeled a racist, and physically assaulted. My possible interpretations are that people who are busy labeling and judging others, maybe should spend some time examining themselves.That being quick to judge people, and take offense, may well condemn people unfairly, for no reason, or for being verbally clumsy. And miss examining a persons actual opinions and intentions.In the end, the main character asks for the local beer brand, rather than the Mexican beer. Does that mean that he actually wanted the local beer all along, and he learned that pretending to like something else, to signal his virtue as tolerant and multicultural, really wasn't worthwhile?Or is it the more sinister interpretation, that he becomes jaded, gives up on his ideals, and tries to fit in?Virtue signaling as a concept may be new, but the underlying mechanism is age-old. Pretending to be something you are not, to gain status.To quote Tycho Brahe: "non haberi sed esse" A notion that can be found in many variations, and far back in time.

This short won the Academy Award for Live Action Short. There will be spoilers ahead:This short concerns a man named Peter, an aid worker for a relief organization who realizes that he's forgotten to vote on election night. This is after he chastises two friends in a bar over what he takes to be racist comments, because, in my view, he's an overly sensitive clod. With the polls closing in 20 minutes he races out to vote, hopping in a cab.The cab driver is absolutely and with no apologies a racist and his comments definitely offend Peter, who argues with the driver and then demands he stop the cab because he no longer wishes to stay and listen to those kinds of remarks-even though he's losing precious time.Peter then encounters a few other drivers, all of whom make remarks he deems (with some justice in most cases) as objectionable, one of them a spectacularly funny rant by a foreign driver about kebab being replaced by a sushi place and the Japanese! Mr. Sensitivity finally reaches the polling place and tries to get in but is told he's too late by a black poll worker. He pleads for her to let him come in and makes a remark that, had he heard someone else say it, he would have called them a racist, which is just what the poll worker says he is and he's accosted by a man who says something outrageous in challenging him on his behavior and then punches him.The short ends with Peter making his way back to the bar and sitting down with the two he called "racist" in the beginning.. I take the ending as an indication that he's been given food for thought and maybe he won't be quite so quick to judge in the future.This short is well worth tracking down. Most recommended.

A man has forgotten to vote, 10 minutes before closing the polls, he takes a cab but The Taxi-driver turn him on with racist comments, he change to others cabs - but the same situation occurs.Humorous short movie, that indicate that intolerance is found at many levels.