Review L
Adams Æbler (2005)
Man, fifty reviews... I never thought I would get this far! Well, I suppose I assumed eventually, but not as quickly as this. Thank you for those who actually read this reviews (I have fans, right?)! Anyway, why not celebrate by reviewing a film from the great Danish director and writer Anders Thomas Jensen and starring the always wonderful Mads Mikkelsen? I am talking about Adams Aebler, or, as it is known in English, Adam's Apples!
Adam (Ulrich Thomsen) is neo-Nazi who has just been released from prison into the wonderful care of Father Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen). He is only required to stay there for a few months, but Adam is bugged right away by Ivan's overly forgiving and ignorant views on people's continuing bad habits. While Ivan introduces Khalid (Ali Kazim) as a recovering robber and Gunnar (Nicolas Bro) as used-to-be alcoholic, convicted rapist and kleptomaniac, yet they both continue to behave sinfully. When Ivan asks that Adam choose a goal to accomplish as a means to rehabilitating. Adam, in typical fashion, chooses something apple related, that is, to make an apple pie. However, his true goal becomes to break Ivan's unshaken faith.
The film obviously takes a lot of symbolism and stories from the Bible, but the biggest comparison has to be from the Book of Job. Since I learned about the Book of Job briefly in a class last semester, I'll give you the brief version to demonstrate my pompous attitude. Job is a man who is devoted to God. Thus, an adversary (who is usually always referred to as Satan) asks God that, if he were to put Job through Hell (not literally, but it comes close), would Job still be faithful to God? The all-powerful, omniscient deity says he would and gives this adversary the right to destroy everything Job has. Thus begins Job's complete and utter torture from this adversary to see whether or not he'll actually break. This plays an important role in the movie as we see that Ivan has had a really, really bad life. I'll also briefly explain the apple story to everyone because, hey, I'm appealing to all readers here and you might not have the knowledge of Christian mythology. Adam was the first man on Earth, and both he and Eve, his "wife", are told that they cannot eat from one tree in the Garden of Eden (this place is referred to as a paradise, a utopia). This tree is the Tree of Knowledge. As you may know, Eve is tempted by Satan (he's disguised as a snake) and eats from the tree, with Adam following in pursuit. The important element here is that, while we might assume the knowledge this tree provides is mathematical and analytical knowledge that aids in further increasing our mental capacity, it can also refer to ethical knowledge as well, i.e. knowing the difference between good and evil. Adam and Eve are born into paradise - the good - so they don't know what evil is exactly. This specificity in the story helped with my interpretation at the end of the film. But, you know, it's open to debate.
Alright, so now about the actual film! Well, I originally watched this film because I like Anders Thomas Jensen's writing (his stories are definitely interesting), so I was hopeful this would be a good film. Well, it was! Nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it. It's not really a typical film, I find, but it has its piece of comedy and drama. The humour is off-coloured, but nothing extreme, in my opinion. The film mostly relied on symbolism, as I said, so it's a film you have to interpret yourself. But it isn't an experimental film. While a piece of work can always be interpretated differently, this film has more of a clean-cut way of how it wants to be taken. I enjoyed being able to analyse it myself, but I liked that it wasn't overly ambiguous. Anyway, the story itself is almost sadly cute. You have Ivan who only looks on the sunny side of life (I'm thanking Gordon Lightfoot for that line), yet he went through such horrible incidents that you expect him to break down crying every time. He just ignores them all, and, well, I found that so sad. Plus you have Adam there pushing him over the line because he believes himself to be "evil". I'm laughing at what's happening on the screen, but inside, I feel I should be crying. The plot itself, though, was lacking a bit. It seemed like there should be something bigger happening, but it never came. Thus, while the film had some creative ideas, it wasn't amazing.
The acting was good. Anyway, I liked Khalid's character - spunky, but laughable, and Ali Kazim did a good job. Nicolas Bro did a great job as Gunnar, who was also a character I really liked, even if he was a convicted rapist. Paprika Steen did a great job as Sarah. I'm glad she came back as I thought Sarah would be a one-time thing. Mostly, though, Ulrich Thomsen and Mads Mikkelsen get credit for their great job. I like that Ulrich Thomsen played Adam as a bad guy, but still with enough sensibility to make him likeable. He does a great job with the transition of the character as well. Mads Mikkelsen played Ivan well, and his performance really made me feel for the character. Apparently Mads Mikkelsen's character had a particular dialect (or accent?), but I don't speak Danish, so I couldn't pick up on it.
I'd give the film seven point seven stars on ten. It was enjoyable, but it still feels like something was missing. Still, the characters were fun and I enjoyed the story for it was worth.
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