The Arbiter (2013) Poster

(2013)

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7/10
Be a critic of yourself instead of criticizing society
verlindenwout15 March 2013
That's pretty much what this movie is trying to achieve in the minds of the viewer.

The story centers around a man who has been turned down by his woman, by society, by his boring job, but most himself he has let himself down and is responsible for his own troubles. Yet he doesn't want to admit this and looks for the disease in society.

As a viewer, I wasn't really drawn into the theories, because the main character is portrayed as a weak person and the theories were not very convincing because of that. As a viewer you also identify with the daughter (Ronia), but sadly her acting performance was not very good in my opinion. I didn't find her the least bit convincing and she came across as very emotionless. Yet this might have been the intention of the film makers; the product of two intelligent people who see emotion as a disease, might be an emotionless girl, no? I liked the movie and wasn't bored a single moment and it's pretty accessible for any audience I think. Sometimes it's a bit over the top (blowing up extremist Muslims), and it's not raw enough. This guy kills innocent people, and I want to see the desperation of those innocent people to really be drawn into it and feel with them.

Do I recommend it? Sure. The topic is interesting enough to see passed the imperfections.
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2/10
Not a good movie, please avoid!
spectral-416 March 2013
This movie certainly is one of the worst thriller movies that can possibly be made and no one certainly would not lose anything if it would not exist.

The plot and characters could be described as childish, not believable and unrealistic.

It certainly is hard to try to understand what this movie actually is about in a context of reality or possibly even considering it to be art-house. The main character is cartoon-like, not having any real motives other than his sick mind. The movie kind of tries to justify his actions which is even worse.

The music, characters, plot, images do not fit together very well although I enjoyed the camera-work in a very small amount. The classical music is unnecessary trying to give this main character some fake depth, it does not work.

I had feelings of walking out of the cinema, luckily I had bought a beer so I could take a sip on most painful parts.

I do not recommend this movie to anyone.
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