Le mele di Adamo

Anders Thomas Jensen may be the most interesting danish director/scriptwriter in recent times, and this movie certainly proves it. The neo-nazi Adam (Ulrich Thomsen) is sent to resocialization at a local church with a priest who can't do anything but turn the other cheek. In a religious context he relive the life and destiny of Job who's punished by God. This could very well have been an abstract and far-our movie, however Thomas Jensen has the ability to make it understandable, humorous and very entertaining, while keeping the love and respect of the religious story. He also has the ability to make the audience reflect the content, by providing black humour, quickly followed by caring tragedy. One might not always know why one laughs. Following the success of Blinkende Lygter and the not-so-great De Grønne Slagtere, Thomas Jensen places this story in between, by providing a black comedy with a great mind.

I love Danish films and this is a wonderful movie with magnificent acting. Its so funny and sad at times. The triumph of good on evil.

This was a wonderful surprise at the (Cleveland) CIFF, a well-made dark comedy.

Adam is a neo-Nazi on a sort of Danish "probation for reprobates", where society's sinners are given a gradual re-introduction to public life under the guidance of Ivan, a parish minister. Adam needs to negotiate a "program" for his several weeks stay; despite his efforts at being arch and cynical Ivan takes him totally in seriousness, setting "baking an apple pie" as Adam's goal. A battle of wills ensues between Adam and Ivan, with wonderful comedic support from Gunnar (Nicolas Bro in another wonderful role) the ex-tennis player and Khalid (Ali Kazim) as a not-yet-reformed terrorist.

Everyone is coping here, but the central character is clearly Ivan (perhaps the funniest I've seen Mads Mikkelsen!). He comes across as "Pangloss" with a twist: "everything is for the best" in this world only in that the devil conspires to make everything a test of man's faith. He is completely deluded yet completely steadfast. This rational irrationality is perhaps the greatest challenge to Adam; no matter what he does Ivan retains his faith…to a point where the comedy simply takes another course.

Not to give away the delight of this comedy's surprises, the characters cope with life, each other, are exasperated and exasperating, consistently inconsistent…the trials of Job are well played out in this barely disguised absurdist romp.

Mean, very funny satire with amazing performances by all - and with an absolutely outstanding Mads Mikkelsen. This is a very black comedy, but also a very smart one that shows once more that Scandinavian - and especially Danish - cinema had some of the most diverse and creative output in Europe over the last two decades. 8 stars out of 10.

In case you're interested in more underrated masterpieces, here's some of my favorites:

imdb.com/list/ls070242495

Having seen all these actors in earlier flicks I thought I knew what I had in store. I was wrong. I laughed like silly where one shouldn't laugh and enjoyed the movie immensely. It is set in a typical Danish village but there is nothing typical about the inhabitants. The priest has a way with people which even the Bee Gees can't dilute. The doctor has this wonderful Danish dialect which all you non-Danish speaking people will miss out on, but still he will be very funny to you all. It's hard to compare this film to any other, but maybe it owes something to "They Eat Dogs in China". And who would have thought that "A Half Kennedy" is a medical term? If you are only going to see one Nordic movie this decade, don't miss out on this one!