In a Better World is director Susan Bier's Oscar winning Best Foreign Language Film from the 2011 Academy Awards. I waited patiently for this film, having watched the other nominations first. Those films included Dogtooth, Biutiful, Incendies and Outside the Law (which I have yet to watch). Based on the three films I have seen so far, 2011 was a decent year for foreign films. While I personally enjoyed Incendies best, In a Better World was well worth watching.
Christian (William Johnk Nielson) is a troubled child. His mother has just succumbed to cancer and his father has moved him from London to Denmark, where he is attending a new school. He befriends another student, Elias (Markus Rygaard) who is the target of incessant bullying from a boy much larger than both of them named Sofus (Simon Maagaard Holm). After one incident, Christian follows Sofus into the boys restroom where he brutally assaults the older child with a bicycle pump before holding a knife to his neck and threatening to kill him. Bullying problem solved. New problems emerge.
Christian's anger begins to boil over as he becomes increasingly aggressive. He spends his free time dangling his feet from a silo near the docks, where a fall would certainly kill him. He seems to have a reckless abandon that may soon catch up with him. When Elias' father, Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) returns from work as a physician in Africa, he ends up in a confrontation with another man over a minor scruff between Elias' younger brother and another boy. Anton tries to teach the boys a lesson in pacifism, but the lesson falls on deaf ears when it comes to the tightly wound Christian.
The bullying in Denmark runs parallel with Anton's work in Africa, where a local warlord finds sick satisfaction in cutting open pregnant women. Anton's dealings with the man, under his Hippocratic oath (and his penchant for pacifism) becomes strained as the warlord tests the boundaries of Anton's patience. Anton washes his hands of the warlord, resulting in the man being beaten to death by the local people. His struggle finds companionship in Elias' own struggle with Christian's increasing trend towards violence. When the boys discover a stockpile of gun powder, their friendship and possibly even their lives become compromised. The anger and pain eventually boil over into a mildly predictable but intense climax and meandering resolution.
While Susan Bier has written several of the films she has directed, this screenplay was the creation of Anders Thomas Jensen. Jensen did an excellent job of creating characters that had depth, to include minor flaws. He created conflicts that were direct, as well as more cerebral struggles. The characters felt very real. While the film moved along at an even pace, the tension built steadily. It was a great use of characters, but I felt like I was missing out on important information about Christian's mother. We are given anecdotal information about her relationship with Christian and Christian's father, but it feels underdeveloped. The information about the mother sometimes feels contradictory, creating confusion. The partially painted picture was bothersome to me, possibly because the other characters were so carefully drawn. Other than that issue, the story was exceptional.
If for no other reason, In A Better World deserved an Oscar Nomination based on the performance of the young Nielsen. The young man did not even need some of the elements written in to the script to convince the audience that he would test any boundary. Nielsen gave his character an eerie edginess that was spellbinding. His performance was absolutely convincing. Nielsen is surrounded by a cast that undertook the task of trying to equal his performance. Persbrandt, Rygaard, Holm, Trine Dyrholm (Elias' mother) and Ulrich Thomsen (Christian's father) were all fantastic.
I am not surprised In A Better World won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. While it was not quite as riveting as either Un Prophet or The Secret In Their Eyes from the previous year, it was among the best 2011 had to offer. My rating is not based on the other films, it is based on the intriguing story, character examination and wonderful performances that In A Better World delivered. Nielsen has a promising future in front of him. I hope he fulfills his potential as an actor. It seems unfortunate he has only been in a handful of films in the ensuing years. While the story didn't fully examine a key relationship, the rest of the film held interesting symbolism and allegory while slowly building to a climactic scene, then delivering a somewhat happy ending. It's nice to have one of those once in a while. 8/10.
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