Fantastic Fest '08: How to Get Rid of the Others
Have you ever seen that person? You know the one that I mean. The one that’s working the system, getting disability while going swimming on the weekend, or the parents who are too lazy to care for their children so they’re left to family to raise; or how about hat guy who hangs outside the store all day, never working, collecting his unemployment and getting high. You hate them right? They’re sucking up resources and never contributing to ANYTHING.
What if you could get rid of them all?
That’s the conceit (and some could say genius) of this film. The Danish gov’t, fed up with 5% of their population eating up 60% of the government’s resources, has made a set of criteria that if met, makes a person eligible for execution. All they have to do to get out of it is prove their worth to society, prove that they in ANY way contribute to the common good. And it’s not easy.
Sounds rather depressing, no, but fear not, this is a comedy of the darkest sort. The film splits time between a group of individuals awaiting interviews that will determine their fate, and those doing the interviews, a hard-boiled military officer and a slight Bill Gates-ish politician who is stepping in for the night. There are hidden agendas, one of the prisoners is not what she seems, and there’s a reason the little politician is volunteering, but they work well for what they are - social satire born out of Denmark’s discontent.
I really liked this film, granted by the end it’s a melodramatic mess reminiscent of the best (worst?) of soap opera chic, but it’s funny. Tragic, but funny. The plot winds well through out, providing insight into the characters without a preponderance of dreary exposition (the interview segments help this out a great deal) and a few of the characters really shine through. The officer especially, who you’d expect to be a hard ass comes across as a man dedicated to his job - it’s just that his job is killing people. The observer is what you’d expect for someone who is doing something he would never have considered doing before had circumstances been different, ever if he does spend an inordinate amount of time puking. The interplay of the detainees brings to the surface the realization that yes, lazy, but still human.
The setting is inspired, since its summer and school is out, the military’s turned the local school into a concentration camp. Each interviewee is questioned in a different classroom, most with the words Got Sommer (good summer) written all across the blackboard. It’s a cute touch that serves as a nice contrast. Here they are, these useless wrecks, in the very place that their children (if they had any) would be taught to not be them.
A cautionary tale from the madhouse of “what if” to be sure, but fun with an ending both tragic and silly.
What if you could get rid of them all?
That’s the conceit (and some could say genius) of this film. The Danish gov’t, fed up with 5% of their population eating up 60% of the government’s resources, has made a set of criteria that if met, makes a person eligible for execution. All they have to do to get out of it is prove their worth to society, prove that they in ANY way contribute to the common good. And it’s not easy.
Sounds rather depressing, no, but fear not, this is a comedy of the darkest sort. The film splits time between a group of individuals awaiting interviews that will determine their fate, and those doing the interviews, a hard-boiled military officer and a slight Bill Gates-ish politician who is stepping in for the night. There are hidden agendas, one of the prisoners is not what she seems, and there’s a reason the little politician is volunteering, but they work well for what they are - social satire born out of Denmark’s discontent.
I really liked this film, granted by the end it’s a melodramatic mess reminiscent of the best (worst?) of soap opera chic, but it’s funny. Tragic, but funny. The plot winds well through out, providing insight into the characters without a preponderance of dreary exposition (the interview segments help this out a great deal) and a few of the characters really shine through. The officer especially, who you’d expect to be a hard ass comes across as a man dedicated to his job - it’s just that his job is killing people. The observer is what you’d expect for someone who is doing something he would never have considered doing before had circumstances been different, ever if he does spend an inordinate amount of time puking. The interplay of the detainees brings to the surface the realization that yes, lazy, but still human.
The setting is inspired, since its summer and school is out, the military’s turned the local school into a concentration camp. Each interviewee is questioned in a different classroom, most with the words Got Sommer (good summer) written all across the blackboard. It’s a cute touch that serves as a nice contrast. Here they are, these useless wrecks, in the very place that their children (if they had any) would be taught to not be them.
A cautionary tale from the madhouse of “what if” to be sure, but fun with an ending both tragic and silly.