As we wait for movie theatres to get back into full business mode and start offering films that we really want to see, many of us still turn to streaming services for entertainment. One advantage of such services is that they often offer an opportunity to see films which we may have missed in the past but can now view at our leisure. Two controversial films available through Telus Downloads are likely to lead to lively discussion of the issues they raise.
Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round (this year’s winner of the Oscar for best foreign film) makes an interesting comment on the consumption of alcohol. Set in Denmark, where apparently there is a far more lenient attitude to drinking than there is in Canada, the film shows what happens when four teacher friends are introduced to a rather odd theory touted by a 19th-century Swedish psychologist, namely, that humans are born with a less than ideal normal alcohol level.
This prompts the men to decide, as an experiment, to “top up” the alcohol level in their blood on a daily basis. Since all of them are suffering from a mid-life crisis, they are delighted when the result is that they begin to experience a much more positive attitude towards their jobs and their lives. This leads them to heighten the experience by consuming even more daily doses of alcohol.
What follows is to a large extent a kind of allegory of an alcoholic’s journey to despair, but with a major exception. Yes, the drinking leads to major problems and tragic consequences, but Vinterberg is clearly not proposing prohibition as a solution to problems arising from consumption of alcohol, and so his film ends with a gloriously jubilant asseveration of the positive impact that the experiment has had on the main character, Martin, brilliantly portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen.
Clearly, Vinterberg is setting the grounds for a lively and meaningful discussion of the role that drinking plays in our lives – and, more importantly, to a discussion as to how to find better ways to obtaining the fulfillment that we are all seeking; it’s never too late for this discovery to take place.
At a time when, thanks to Covid, many have owned up to finding some solace in wine and other beverages and all of us have had an opportunity to reflect on our own life decisions, nothing could be more relevant to our society today. Or could it?
Ruben Östlund’s The Square (winner of the 2017 Palme d’Or and numerous other awards) offers an even more challenging exploration of the concerns and values of much of modern society. On a very obvious level, the film is a satire of the art world, particularly modern art.
Many may well find themselves agreeing with the film’s portrayal of modern art as being pretentious and nonsensical. This part of the film is hilarious and richly entertaining. However, Östlund goes much further than this.
Using the art world as a springboard, he uses the square of the title as a symbol of the larger society we inhabit. The square is an art installation set up outside a museum and intended to be “a sanctuary of trust and caring” – or so the gallery claims. As such, it provides a challenge to the square that is the larger society in which we live.
The film argues that this society claims to be caring, when in reality it is self-centred and largely ignoring of the many needs of those whom we encounter daily. Thus the film focuses on the director of an art gallery, who, having in the opening scene congratulated himself on coming to the aid of a woman in distress, finds that in fact he has been robbed of his wallet and phone. He becomes completely immersed in recovering these material objects and loses sight of virtually everything else, with disastrous consequences.
The film uses his journey to satirize society’s materialism, the media, the hypocrisy of the haves when confronted with the have-nots, the veneer used to cover basic animal instincts, and the way that people use others, particularly sexually, while pretending to care for them. (Be warned that there is not only considerable use of objectionable language, but one embarrassing sex scene.)
The satire is obvious; it lambastes the way that much of society ignores the needs of others. The frequent examples of people vainly seeking help, the name of the protagonist “Christian” and the use of the Ave Maria as much of the orchestral background music are hardly subtle reminders of the values to which we claim adherence but to which many daily only pay lip service.
The relevance of the film to much of modern society is indeed timely. It ultimately poses the question “What values are we passing on to our children?” The Square is a very disturbing film, but one which, thanks to brilliant cinematography, is always interesting and frequently comical despite its overly long running time.
This is another film which will prompt much discussion of aspects of society, ranging from art to the obligation to treat others with care and respect and the need to look after those who are truly poor, in the fullest sense of the word.
Whether finding solace in alcohol or whether paying mere lip service to the traditional recognition of our obligation to our neighbours, both Another Round and The Square indicate that society, both on a personal level and at large, needs fully to embrace the values taught to us by Christ. As springboards to further thought, they are to be highly recommended, though neither film is easy to watch.
For most of us the difficulty is compounded by the need for subtitles. And here I do have an ongoing complaint: one would think that in this age of technical expertise it would be possible to generate subtitles which are constantly clear; deciphering white subtitles against a white background is an annoyance that far too frequently detracts from the experience of viewing foreign films. Since so many foreign films are worthy of our full attention, is it too much to hope that this technical problem can be solved?
Also from this author:
