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Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955) ; Art House Rating:
Ordet is Danish for "The Word", and this film is undoubtedly Dreyer's last word on the meaning of Christian faith. It's a slow, somber film set in a small Danish village where there seems to be basically two families who practice different forms of Christianity. Morten Borgen (Henrik Malberg) owns a farm and has three sons. The eldest Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen) has wife Inger (Birgitte Federspiel) expecting a baby, and both parents want a son because they already have two daughters. The youngest son is in love with the daughter Anne (Gerta Nielsen) of Morten's religious rival Peter (Ejner Federspiel). Morten's middle son Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye), a former seminarian obsessed with Kierkegaard, believes himself to be the returned Jesus Christ and desperately wants to perform miracles and help save people but since everybody thinks he's crazy, he never seems to get a chance.
As with most of Dreyer's films, it's extremely stark but this reflects well on the environment and simple, harsh life the families go through. Morten believes in a God who wants his family to be happy and rejoice, and he believes that Peter is just suffering through life and can't wait for death to find some reward. Meanwhile, Peter believes that Morten and his family are going to Hell. This obviously causes problems in trying to get their children together, and further complications arise when Inger's pregnancy does not go as planned. This film obviously has no special effects and doesn't need any. People who are seriously interested in an intelligent discussion of what Christianity can be, how God works in mysterious ways and whether faith can move mountains or something even more immovable would do well to watch Ordet. It is a sincere and moving film.
Ordet is Danish for "The Word", and this film is undoubtedly Dreyer's last word on the meaning of Christian faith. It's a slow, somber film set in a small Danish village where there seems to be basically two families who practice different forms of Christianity. Morten Borgen (Henrik Malberg) owns a farm and has three sons. The eldest Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen) has wife Inger (Birgitte Federspiel) expecting a baby, and both parents want a son because they already have two daughters. The youngest son is in love with the daughter Anne (Gerta Nielsen) of Morten's religious rival Peter (Ejner Federspiel). Morten's middle son Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye), a former seminarian obsessed with Kierkegaard, believes himself to be the returned Jesus Christ and desperately wants to perform miracles and help save people but since everybody thinks he's crazy, he never seems to get a chance.
As with most of Dreyer's films, it's extremely stark but this reflects well on the environment and simple, harsh life the families go through. Morten believes in a God who wants his family to be happy and rejoice, and he believes that Peter is just suffering through life and can't wait for death to find some reward. Meanwhile, Peter believes that Morten and his family are going to Hell. This obviously causes problems in trying to get their children together, and further complications arise when Inger's pregnancy does not go as planned. This film obviously has no special effects and doesn't need any. People who are seriously interested in an intelligent discussion of what Christianity can be, how God works in mysterious ways and whether faith can move mountains or something even more immovable would do well to watch Ordet. It is a sincere and moving film.