User reviews

This is a great film to explain the existentialism. Well, that philosophical theory or approach emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will... and that is what our hero is lacking... balls to act willfully instead of following the elders who left him a burden of pressure to keep building what the family started. Dark and depressing tones set in a beautiful Scandinavian landscape just slowly build up to the tragic ending. Good acting, good directing but the script was a little bit loose, needs tidying up!

It's bracing to see the austere spirit of Bergman and Haneke played out once again in such minimalist stentorian tones. Cold yet deeply authentic, Ravens pulls no punches when it comes to raw human nature and family rupture. It felt very real to me, coming as I do from Finnish farming roots--the gravitational drag of intergenerational obligation, the family suicides and insanity, the endless thankless backbreaking labor underlying all of life. The rebellion of the spirit against this monolithic yoke of family inheritance is carried out on many levels as young and old alike strive for individuality and the illusion of freedom. Guilt fuels all virtue. What a monument to Scandinavian landscape--both of the heart and of the land!

Acting on world class level from all the actors. The mood and scenery is great. But the story in itself is too thin. But worth watching for the acting