brilliant actors, brilliant editing

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Learning that the BBC has recently shown the rare movie An Angel on My Shoulder,I went searching for the title on BBC iPlayer,and stumbled upon a tough-sounding Drama which had strong reviews on IMDb,which led to me going on a search for a better world.The plot:Working at a refugee hospital in Sudan,the gap between his work time in Sudan and his home time in Denmark leads to Anton's marriage to Marianne being strained to the point that they are starting to think of getting a divorce,which their oldest son Elias feels the full impact of.Moving to Demark with his dad Claus after his mum has died from cancer, Christian starts his first day at Elias's school.Seeing Elias get bullied, Christian decides to stand up for him,and fight back. Taught by their families to forgive,Elias and Christian decide to not tell their parents that they have decided to go down a path of revenge.View on the film:Keeping the camera at Elias and Christian's level,co-writer/(along with Anders Thomas Jensen and Per Nielsen) director Susanne Bier and cinematographer Morten Søborg cast a cloud of grief and loss of hope over the title,with brilliantly held two shots of Christian and Elias hitting the title with a tense atmosphere of impending despair. Treating the outbreak of violence very seriously, Bier hits the scenes with a raw force,which smartly keeps the issues Elias and Christian are facing at home as a just under the surface subtext.Looking into the eyes of the parents,the screenplay by Jensen/ Bier and Nielsen paint a brilliant,emotionally complex picture of each family. Clearly showing their love for Elias and Christian,the writers dissect each of the internal debates that they are facing,from Claus facing the private sorrow from the death of his wife,to Anton standing up against the injustice in Sudan,but finding it impossible to stop the marriage slipping out of his hands.Pushed onto the school pavement, William Jøhnk Nielsen and Markus Rygaard both give extraordinary performances as Elias and Christian,whose friendship Nielsen and Rygaard give a rough round the edges vibe,and also an excellent skill in feeding the deep psychological "issues" they are both dealing with into their uncomfortable outbreaks out violence. Fighting against what he believes is wrong, Mikael Persbrandt gives a terrific performance as Anton,whose attempt to stand on the correct moral ground Persbrandt perfectly captures,whilst Ulrich Thomsen gives a quiet,powerful performance as Claus trying to stay strong for his son,as they go in search of a better world.

Susanne Bier's Hævnen (In a Better World), similar in style to her 2006 film, After the Wedding, is a drama with elements of suspense; the film takes place in both the barren, beautiful desert landscape of Africa and the lush, green, Danish terrain. Bier juxtaposes the scenery while paralleling the situations and relationships experienced in both settings. The film discusses the issues of what is right, what is wrong, and what is legal; the choice between violence and compassion; the relationships between parent and child, husband and wife, and childhood friends. Morality and mortality occupy the better part of the film, with little if any humor to diffuse the nearly constant tension. Bier creates a tragedy that nearly reaches Grecian proportions, but manages to scale it back just at the end, leaving an implausibly happy conclusion. The film begins in Africa. We meet Anton, a Swedish physician who works in a village in an unidentified African nation where the community is constantly terrorized by a faction of violent rebels and war mongers. The terrorist leader is called 'The Big Man;' his modus operandi is to mutilate the genitalia of young women and girls in the village, merely out of sick curiosity. His group commits a series of atrocities that Anton and his medical assistants are forced to face. Following this scene, we see a young boy giving a eulogy; he rejects his father's embraces and words of comfort, and generally wanders around impassively. The two move in to a new home, and the boy, Christian, takes the smallest room farthest from his remaining parent. At this point, Bier's almost documentary style filming becomes apparent. The camera, evidently hand-held, shakily zooms in as it cross-cuts from son to father in a stilted conversation that leaves them both isolated and despondent. Following this, Christian's father takes him to his new school; as Christian removes his bag from the trunk of the care, he notices a boy attempting to walk through a pack of adolescent thugs bent on making life miserable for what appears to be their usual victim. The boy, Elias, is a Swede, whom his peers not-so-fondly refer to as 'Rate Face,' due to his overbite. But it becomes apparent that he is largely despised not for his face but for his nationality. He is an outsider; Christian is something of an outsider, himself – often alone and very much embittered after his mother's passing. Watching the boy relentlessly attacked, Christian steps in to protect Elias only to be attacked himself. From then on, the two boys bond in shared experiences of violence and vengeance; furthermore, Elias is the son of Anton, the physician; his parents are separated due to his father's infidelity, and Elias lives with his mother and younger brother. Issues of morality begin to take shape, as we come to see the disparate characters within the two boys and Anton emerge. Elias appears to take after his father, Anton, unwilling to take part in confrontation, particularly of the more violent sort. Violence, Anton argues, does not guarantee you a victory. Sweet and unsure, Elias is simply not a violent character and is easily bullied and cowed. Christian, in contrast, has an obsession with death and a seemingly insatiable desire for violence and revenge. He attacks without hesitation. His father, whom he blames for the death of his mother (a victim of brain cancer) is often the victim of Christian's assaults. Christian doesn't have patience for passive acceptance: "I can't be bothered with people who give up!" He seems to make it his mission to turn passive Elias into the angry, aggressive boy he himself has become. Violence ensues. The law comes in to play. The boys protect each other; the parents try to encourage honesty and discourage retribution, while experiencing and exploring the same emotions their children are forced to face. When Anton encounters 'The Big Man' for the first time, he must decide what is "right," what is compassionate, what is deserved. Elias must make the same decisions facing his bullies and even his friend, Christian. And Christian must make these decisions facing the world – the ultimate bully, which stole his mother from him.I found this film compelling in many respects. I felt the relationship between the two boys was thoroughly explored and well-portrayed. The relationship between Anton and his wife, Elias's mother, is never fully developed, and the conclusion to their conflict seems tacked on and unrealistic, as does the resolution to the village's conflict with 'The Big Man.' Overall, the movie is at times very moving, but leaves something to be desired.

In a Better World, Hævnen (Revenge) would not be necessary, or would happen cleanly. In this film, the director, Susan Bier portrays difficult ethical questions of life in an extreme, yet moving way, while also investigating uncomfortable and strained relationships as is typical of her style. After now seeing two films of hers, it seems to be that melodramatic and her filming technique are becoming her personal stamp on the film industry.In a Better World is a movie with arguably three main characters who are all closely connected. The main characters are two children, Christian and Elias, and Elias' father, Anton. Each of these character's encounters ethical dilemma's throughout the film. Christian is struggling to deal with his pent up anger built up from his mother's death, while Elias learns what it is to be a friend and what he values as a person. Half way around the world Anton learns first hand just how far his ethical values can be pushed while working as a doctor in Africa.The way each of these character's handles there specific events elucidates possible answers to different ethical questions. The most prevalent ethical concept that is investigated is the concept of revenge, the Danish name for the movie. To what extent is revenge acceptable? Is revenge acceptable at all? Is revenge OK sometimes and not others? I think this movie answers these questions on revenge in an intelligent, safe manner by not giving a clear answer. Revenge may or may not be acceptable. There are some cases where revenge is taken too far, some where it is a necessary evil. Susan Bier does a wonderful job of allowing the viewer to determine what they do or don't agree with, allowing them to see revenge in a variety of different situations. In the real world these types of events and questions are not so easily answered, there is no one straight answers to these ethical questions. The real world is complicated. In a Better World the world might not be so complicated. In a better world revenge wouldn't be needed because in a better world, there wouldn't be evil people, but we don't live in a better world, we live in the real world.Susanna Bier is known for having somewhat melodramatic movies. In this case I think it works because the strength of the events and dilemma's helps the themes of ethical conflicts, and issues with relationships be more clearly represented. At some points it does seem to be a little too much though. I mean seriously, a couple of 12 year old making pipe bombs? That seems a little bit extreme to me. Elias's life also seems to be extreme on it's own. He has soon to be divorced parents, is bullied to extremes, his best friend and "savior" begins to treat him similarly to the bullies, and he gets blown up!? That seems a bit extreme to me, but it also has a powerful impact on the viewers. Elias seems to be the most innocent ethical example of a character in the film, yet he lies to the cops, carries a knife around, agrees to bomb a car, cementing the idea of how complicated situations are, and how our own values are pushed to limit, sometimes for the good and others for the bad. Another thing that Susanna Bier does very well is using different techniques to enhance the movie. The first thing I noticed in the film is how the colors of the video popped out of the screen compared to the dirty, dust filled, muted scenery of an African refugee village. This little allows the viewer to think about and find their own significance. Another thing she does is use a hand-held camera for a large portion of the movie. For me, the hand-held camera helped me get lost in the movie. It helped me feel like this was a real story I was experiencing. The trembling of the camera when it is focused on Christian is almost nerve-racking at points. You can see and feel the anger is building up inside him and how he might explode at any point. It seems like the person filming even feels some fear.Overall, Susanna Bier created another killer movie delving into the difficult problems encountered in a wide variety of relationships and ethical questions of life. She stuck to her guns; using a third world and Scandinavian setting, melodramatic events, a variety of relationships, and managed to create a movie that could keep the viewer thinking about revenge and it's ethical dilemmas long after they finish the movie.

This movie is a very good look at one man's inner workings or into his soul if that is how you would rather put it. The movie is not perfect by any stretch and some of the performers acting could have been a little bit better.The lead actor was very good and you could see how he was changing throughout the movie. I'm not sure exactly what it is about the cinema in Denmark and of the Dutch and that region of Europe but for some reason all of the movies of theirs that I watch I tend to really enjoy and find amazing.Definitely worth watching!