Bænken (2000) Reviews

• Hard hitting drama.

  libertyvalance2002-11-12

  We've all of us seen them: the alcoholics wasting their lives sitting on our cities' benches. What we don't see is the drama behind the alcohol. What struck me while watching Baenken is that it is all so believable and therefore the more painful to watch. The story of this film becomes less important than the leading character's death wish. His cynical attitude towards life and suicidal drinking habits are what sticks in one's mind. Jesper Christensen is masterful in portraying the misery, the shame and hopelessness that go with alcoholism. The drinking bout in which he cries while lying wounded in his apartment is gut wrenching to watch. Not an easy film to watch but definitely worthwhile if one has the stomach for it.

• Fantastic and heartfelt portrayal of the edges of society

  prometheus-dk2003-03-02

  I was very skeptical when I first went to see this movie, I have never been a fan of political movies or movies with an overstated "message". This film however, proved to be neither. This is a refreshingly unsentimental portrayal of one of the members of society that we all would prefer to ignore. The main character, Kaj, is a wellfare client with no prospects, he once had a job and was making a life for himself, but now he is a broken down alcoholic with a genuine but thinly-veiled deathwish. He is masterfully portrayed by Jesper Christensen who, deservedly, won both the Bodil and Robert awards for his performance. Enter a woman who says she is his daughter and suddenly his world becomes complicated. What is so great about this film is that it never wallows in pity and heartfelt sympathies for its protagonists and neither does it become a political manifesto about the sufferings of the lower classes. This is ultimately a movie about a man, a man who may have made some wrong decisions in his life but nonetheless a human being like the rest of us. Per Fly spent a lot of time with people whose life resembles that of the characters in order to achieve a high level of authenticity. As a result the setting of the film is thoroughly believable and the characters equally so. This is the first film in Per Fly's trilogy about the classes in Denmark, the second movie about the upper class premiers this week in Denmark and the third, about the middle class will begin preproduction shortly.

• Super great movie

  mia-gp2005-04-01

  This movie is the most powerful movie I've ever seen, it went right through my body and at the same time I loved it and I still watches it from time to time I never get sick of it. I know some one who unfortunately is in the same position as the main character and we watch it together and we cry our eyes out it's so realistic that it can be felt all over your body it's a heart felt and honest movie. I can only highly recommend it to everyone who has a heart. The cameras are shooting the right angles and get all action, pain and warm that there might be in every scene, great acting, directing and to sum up a wonderful film. I want everyone to see it and feel the movie in your heart, body and soul. Therefore it gets a 10/10 I would love to give it more if that was possible.

• Very touching

  monz-12005-08-09

  This movie is about forgiving, decay, hope, love and death. The main character is played to perfection by Jesper Christensen, one of the best performances i've ever seen in any movie. I was 100% convinced that he was a deathdrunk alcoholic, what a masterpiece of acting!!! 10 stars on his acting alone. The story is beautiful, sad but very very true. Many of us close our eyes to these kind of people and tend to forget that behind the sad drunken facades are real people with real stories and emotions. This movie smacks these people right in your face. Some people find it disgusting, but the rest of us find that this is a masterpiece of a movie. Its in my top 3 of all time favourite movies.

• Excellent drama about forgiveness and more

  Gyldmark2000-11-29

  Brilliant movie. Jesper Christensen puts his soul into this part as Kaj, who drinks so much, he's dying. Suddenly his daughter appears, who he has not seen since she was about 4 years, so she can't recognize him. She has a son now, and a violent husband. Kaj just hangs out with the locals on a bench, drinking beers and stronger stuff. He's sunken so low, he's negative towards everything and everybody. But now, where he has a grandson, he wants to pull himself up - to live again. But is it too late? It's so great to watch the similar reality these actors/actresses has put in their roles. Jesper Christensen really deserves some important awards for this part. I also enjoyed Halfdan E.'s score very much.