Wildland

I would compare watching this movie with reading a classic depressed Russian novel.

At no point is it an enjoyable experience, neither is it fun, but you're still somehow compelled to finish it, clinging on to some shred of optimism for the situation depicted.

This movie perfectly and accurately depicts the staggeringly harmful effect an abusive household has on multiple generations of children; how it sucks everyone around it into its blend of misery and insanity; how the affected finally snap under the pressure of the situation as they reach the limit of coping with their situation.

I would never watch this movie again. Neither would I recommend it to anyone else. But I will likely never forget it.

DO NOT go into this movie expecting some mafia-thriller whatever. This is a psychological piece of art, not a piece of entertainment.

The movie has a slow and steady pace, introducing the viewer gently to Ida's view of her manipulative and emotionally abusive family. Getting to know the family is a disruptive journey between love and hate, with the seemingly innocent Ida as the main conductor for the many and often subtlety shown emotions on screen. In a calm yet energetic way the plot unfolds while the viewer remains guessing about the complex characters and their relationships.

The deeper Ida is involved with family matters the more inevitable her inner conflict becomes. In a shocking showdown the captured energy can be released for once.

They say you can't choose family - as in you have a bond with them, whether you like that or not. Whereas friends - well you are able to ditch them and find new ones. Of course if you don't like a family member you can disown them or pretend they don't exist. But that is sort of a thing of perspective, because you'll always be connected somehow.

Even after death you ask? I would say yes, but that one is something you have to answer. And death is a factor that triggers the story here. Because her mother dies in the beginning of the movie, our main character has to move in with people she might not have in contact with otherwise. And who will shape and form the rest of her life too ... for better or worse. A drama that is sometimes hard to swallow, not easy to follow and something you have to allow ... to have its impact on you, with its slow moving pace and all that drama.

The original Danish title is better, I think, but other than that I'm at a loss to explain some of the low star reviews for this film. I started watching it thinking I'd maybe give it half an hour, and then ninety minutes later when the credits rolled, I was genuinely surprised that so much time had passed.

The film is deceptively slow paced, especially at the start, but the slow build up of unsettling atmosphere is such that you don't really notice. The direction and performances are uniformly excellent, pulling you almost reluctantly from one scene to the next, because you have to know what will happen when the tension finally breaks.

The film has a moment when you think some resolution has been reached and then it completely smacks you out of left field with an ending I, for one, did not see coming.

Definitely worth your time.

Promising premise, and a few good actors. But the entire idea and story is lost, by a director who apparantly made a movie for herself, and not really for anyone else. Waste of time, efforts and what could have been a good story.