Dreadfully Boring

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I cannot recommend this series highly enough... I found it excellent in every aspect: the writing, directing, photography, acting, the music score. It is deeply moving and brought me to tears in several moments.As a period piece it has no rival; it is head and shoulders above any other historical series in TV. It is certainly of much better artistic quality than The Tudors, Rome, and The Vikings series, for instance. It is actually difficult to compare with anything else ever made for TV.It is a series for adults, treating serious themes seriously, and with powerful messages about the stupidity and horrors of war, and the delusions and vanity of politicians; though it is set in Denmark, Germany and the UK in the 1850's and 1860's, most of it applies to situations in the US and Europe in the beginning of the 21st Century: it is a real masterpiece.I really find it hard to understand why some people gave it a low rating... Perhaps it was too profound, too serious, too disturbing? It's certainly not a popcorn & soda production to help you escape reality: it is more a wake-up call to escape escapism. The war scenes were indeed realistic and horrible as real war is; no adolescent glorification of combat. Indeed, the series denounces the naivety of young people joyfully marching off into war as if it were a picnic, and then being scarred by it forever. As for the alternation between past and present, I did not find it confusing; I found it gave the audience time for reflection and for making the very important connections between past and present, between history and present-day disenchantment, between millennials and a much older generation. I could easily see long debates going on about the messages the series conveys, addressing issues of personal and national identity, the roles of religious and political leaders, the meaning of heroism. You could easily have a whole graduate course organized around these 8 chapters.In the end, I was sad to see it finish; yet it was correctly proportioned from beginning till end. The last chapter was not rushed (which is often the case with made for TV productions) and it left me wishing all series were as good as this one.

It is fascinating, and maybe instructive, to see how non- Scandinavian/Danish reviewers tend to give this series several stars more those for whom the series was made.For a non-Dane who had never heard about this... well, let's be honest, footnote in European history, I found it very brilliant. Not for me concerns about historical accuracy or whether this general was actually where he was shown to be. Like I care, to be honest. What I got was a multi-pronged love story, some political intrigue, villains who were as black as they dressed, and - as others have said - battle scenes are quite simply some of the best I have ever seen. Breathtaking, terrifying, stunning.Yet again Denmark is made to look ravishing by the Danish production team. I mean, wow, is this an amazing looking country or what? My list of "places to visit in Denmark" grew with every episode.However it was at times confusing and on several occasions I was running for a map - and come to that the Wikipedia pages about the war - just to try to work on what the heck was going on. And it has to be said that the villains really were over the top villains (though maybe the Prime Minister really was this barking?). And at times I mistook Danes for Germans, because both were subtitled identically (and Danish and German sound quite alike). And it was not quite sure that the framing with the modern day pair really worked - it was just too predictable and unoriginal and really no needed. So this was not perfect, but its was still very good.And it was great to see most of the cast of "Borgen" turn up again, slightly more odd to see at least one of the main locations turn up too - but I guess they only have so many places they can use.Overall - another hit from Danish TV. How do they do it?

This Danish drama opens in the present day as troubled teenager Claudia is forced to visit Severin; an elderly baron; while there she reads to him the diaries of his grandmother Inge who lived through the tumultuous events of the mid-nineteenth century. In the aftermath of 1st Schleswig War spirits are high in Denmark; they were victorious and life seems idyllic; however there are dark clouds on the horizon; Lutheran minister Monrad sees the victory as a sign that the Danes are Gods chosen people and after entering politics intends to integrate the Duchy of Schleswig into Denmark against the will of its German speaking population and likely to lead to another war against the Prussians. In the run up to this impending war we are introduced to some of those it will effect; most notably Inge and two brothers who both love her, Peter and Laust Jensen; the son on the current baron Didrich and returned soldier Johan. As the story progresses we observes these characters and those around them as relationships develop and change and ultimately they head to a disastrous war that not all of them will survive.Before watching this series I confess I hadn't heard of the 2nd Schleswig War so can't really comment on how accurately the events were portrayed; I can however say as a piece of drama it was gripping if occasionally difficult viewing. The episodes before the war starts serve to introduce the protagonists and the politics of the time and by the time the first shot is fired we know full well who the heroes and villains are. The battle scenes, which are possibly the best I've seen in a television production, are dramatic in a way that is gruelling rather than exciting… war is a filthy, bloody business. The cast do a fine job; surprisingly it is the villains who stand out most; Nicolas Bro and Pilou Asbæk are great as Monrad and Didrich two of the least sympathetic characters imaginable; the former a religious zealot whose views wouldn't have been out of place in Nazi Germany and the latter who is a coward and a rapist. That isn't to say the rest of the cast aren't fine too; Marie Tourell Søderberg, as Inge, Jens Sætter-Lassen as Peter, Jakob Oftebro as Laust and Søren Malling as Johan. Some reviewers have been critical of the dialogue but not speaking Danish and relying on the subtitles I didn't notice this myself. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody looking for a historical drama with fairly deep themes; just be warned some of the content will offend some viewers.

I'm one of those people that don't enjoy overt manipulation - and I prefer a balanced approach when it comes to portraying characters and I need a plausible setup, before I can invest myself in what happens on screen.I do enjoy experiencing something significant and then being allowed to think for myself, when reflecting upon what I've been exposed to. In this case, it's a TV series that certainly could have been significant, even profound.Sadly, the only profound thing about it is how blatant it is in its absurd treatment of human beings and supposedly historical events involving these cartoon characters.The budget is huge for a Danish production, and the good news is that it shows. It's remarkably well-crafted in terms of aesthetics. It looks and sounds fantastic - and you can clearly see where Bornedal excels in that way.He's an excellent director when it comes to setting up a scene or how to create an emotionally powerful moment, using slow motion and the appropriate music. He's also capable of extracting a lot of raw feeling from his actors. In fact, he must be so good at this, that they forget how to turn it off again, and to behave like plausible people.As such, the problem is that he doesn't seem to understand the economy of emotions and the impact they can have if handled with less spelling them out, and more letting them build over time without even talking about them.This was evident in "I am Dina" - and it's even more evident now, considering the change in material, which should have been treated with more subtlety.You DO NOT evoke a more powerful response through oversaturation. Instead, you evoke fatigue. Real human beings don't emote with such power with every sentence they speak - and we don't actually spout commanding exposition for each moment that passes by.Sometimes, less really IS more - and you don't have to use a sledgehammer to make pain clear to the audience.Personally, I don't understand why you'd take on a historically significant event such as this war - if you're not going to treat the people involved with respect. If you're going to talk about something that actually happened, then please start out by understanding something about human nature when depicting the key people involved.People don't reside in little boxes called "good" and "evil". We're a bit more complex than that.Monrad being borderline retarded, crawling around naked on the floor - and his "muse" being this completely powermad evil witch hypnotizing him into submission is a bit much, no? As far as I know, there's absolutely nothing in history about Heiberg to suggest she was anything like that. If you want a character to serve your cartoon version of reality - at least use a fictional person.So, how about taking a deep breath and attempt a bit of slight subtlety next time. It might actually work better. Did we really need to see theater-blood on his hands when war had been declared? Are we THAT incapable of seeing what's going on, Bornedal?Didrich? Is there a single moment in the series where his eyes aren't flooded with tears of pain - and does he ever cast a look at another person that isn't full of burning jealousy and hatred?Treating your audience with that kind of hand-holding simply isn't necessary.The less said about telepathic lover communication and hypnotic veteran soldiers, the better.As for the actual historical events, I can't speak about them in a very informed way. I simply don't know enough about this war. I can only hope they've researched them a bit more than they've researched real human beings.But since the people involved clearly aren't being depicted as real people - I have to wonder how much of the events being shown is useful in terms of relaying historical fact.But then again, this is just entertainment right? It's the American standard of using real history as "inspiration" and that's good enough, right?Wrong. Not to me, anyway.If you use a real event this important, please treat it with some respect for the facts.Otherwise, make something up and be clear about wanting to entertain rather than inform. As in, don't make it about a real war and pretend that the people involved are all caricatures from a fairy tale.Unfortunately, even as entertainment, this wouldn't work as anything but a farcical display of near-constant extreme human behavior.If you're a very young person looking to be told how to feel and to be grossly misinformed about human behavior, it's not bad - I guess. It's like a roller-coaster of emotional peaks and valleys if you can turn off your brain.It's clear that Bornedal is in complete denial-mode after the massive criticism this show has received on a national scale, and I can sympathise with him. But, as harsh as it might seem, there's a really good reason it hasn't been received very well.If you're an adult looking for something relevant to real life, steer clear.