Hvordan vi slipper af med de andre

The premise of the movie is really great. It stars off great too. The pace is good, the story seems as dark as it's title, everything runs along smoothly ... well not for long though. Unfortunately very soon, the movie runs out of steam.

Yes there is the occasional flash of a funny idea and/or storyline, but given the premise and the opportunities that arise, this seems and is very shorthanded. A shame then, that it falls back into clichés and tries hard to be funny, even when the timing and everything else is off. And when I say off, I mean in it in a bad way. If you don't care about missed opportunities, than you will at least enjoy it's dark humour ...

I knew that I had to watch this, from the very moment I learned of its existence. I was not able to catch it in the cinema, and I was thrilled to find a copy for sale. I like Pilmark, and he carries this well. His performance is the best in this; frankly, several of the others(in spite of a few of them being known talents... well, Kenter is great) are downright bad(Mieritz scrapes the bottom). The concept is marvelous, and this is a problem that we need to debate. Can we maintain the welfare state? The consensus here(in Denmark) is, of course, that no one should have to suffer because of something that is not their fault. But the fact remains that it costs money, and there are indeed people taking advantage of the benefits. It even gets political a little. A satire of this sort ought to be excellent. It jumps right into it, not wasting any time. Heck, it has magnificent points, such as how our social security numbers are used to keep track of us. The black comedy can be good. On the other hand, it goes for many low blows and cheap shots, it can be very gross, and it at times doesn't go above the level of caricature. The whole thing can't figure out if it wants to be funny or serious. It has also somewhat decided its stance right away, and could do more to actually discuss its subject. I would say it's over the top here and there. It tries to cover too much, squeezing in exposition awkwardly. The philosophy and such can be pretentious(the Africa thing is OK). I haven't seen other films by Rønnow Klarlund or Botoft, and would hope that they really are, or will get to be, better than this makes it seem. Characters tend to be flat or not credible. Editing and cinematography are nice at times, and the hand-held camera is put to reasonable use. The score music is distracting(and the English portion of the theme is poorly sung); this is not me refusing to be PC, I am saying that it undermines otherwise subtly effective conclusions to scenes by drawing attention to itself and to our viewing of something fictional. There is plenty of disturbing content and strong language, as well as occasional bloody violence in this. The DVD comes with an interesting commentary track(the two argue some... Fauli bitches a lot, and the director oversimplifies a bit to make his case), the trailer and "learn the lyrics"(merely the words on a still background). I recommend this mainly to those who, like me, want this dealt with. The best part of this? "I've heard enough to reach my decision". 6/10

"How We Get Rid Of The Others" is a confused movie, confused as in it does not really know what direction to take, never really sure whether to be deep and serious or flat and funny. This is a shame, because some of the elements work quite well. Søren Pilmark does a remarkable job playing the military commander and Søren Fauli plays the weak confused socialdemocratic politician perfectly, although it makes you wonder if it's really possible for such a spineless and retarded individual to be elected into parliament, but that isn't very important. What is however important is the character of Sidse/Belinda, who fails desperately. The idea of an academic person accidentally making up "The Copenhagen Criterias" which are the catalyst for the movie and then later on regretting it to start an underground organization to curb it's effects is neither realistic or funny and the double crossing girl comes off as an irrelevant, unbelievable and annoying character that shouldn't have made it to the storyline.

Folkes discovery of his biological parents is another side-story that just confuses and distracts from the main story.

So what works well? The relationship between Folke and Major Christian is brilliant, as is Christians numerous interviews with questionable citizens. I would have appreciated an interview scene with all of the citizens in the gym hall and perhaps a third character caught in the middle between Christian and Folke.

If you can forgive some crude acting and some lousy scenes, consider renting this title and appreciate the amusing and witty qualities that it does have.

I loved this film, it made me laugh and even moved me. As a satire it really works because first of all, it's just plain funny, and it deals with a relevant issue - the imperfections of our welfare society. You can't help getting carried away by the film's argument outrageous as it may be. As a story it works too, because the main characters turn out to have problems you can sort of believe in the middle of the craziness. (Also, most of the acting is really good.) I liked that you are not provided with a clear answer or solution. The film just points out the basic inhumanity of looking at others as completely separate from oneself - that's how I saw it anyway. I do think that is a universal issue so I recommend this movie to everyone, even though the characters in it may be very Danish.

This is a brilliant idea. There are a number of great performances in here: Mr. Pilmark's, Ms. Mieritz's, and Ms. Tiemroth's among others. There are a number of clever writing twists-- surprises popping up later in the film. Save for one absurd image in the beginning, and the trope of interviews in different classrooms of a school, there is nothing comic here. Mr. Pilmark's character's smile on the cover of the video is misleading. Still, in the time of America's 45th president and in a time of compassion fatigue, what we do with the intractible problems of the least of us is worthy of discussion. This is not light though, and it is not funny.