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Reviews
Hævnen (2010)
A tale about life
As with all great stories, this is a movie about the meaning of life. I know this is a cliché, but a true one. All that is really important is distilled in this movie. Life and death, love and hatred, separation and reconciliation, distance and closeness, good and evil, and how hard it is to really communicate with others. This is a movie one must see again and again. It forces us to regain balance, not through illusions, but by showing us life as it is. A life that can be brutal and unforgiving, but that is worth living to the full. That is, perhaps, the only answer the movie gives us. The rest will remain with us forever. Go watch it, if you still haven't.
The only negative point I can make is not about the movie, but about the translation of its title into both English and Portuguese. I feel those translations totally miss the point. "Hævnen" means, I think, revenge, and "Revenge" would indeed be a much better title. (I wonder, though, whether the fact that the Danish word "hævnen" is so close to "havnen", meaning harbor, is of significance.)
Torre Bela (1975)
An unintentional indictment of expropriation
This precious documentary gives its viewers a rare insight into the communist/socialist mindset and what it really means in practice. The documentary was filmed with the clear intention of praising the Portuguese revolutionary process that took place from the April 25, 1974, revolution, which overturned the old, authoritarian Estado Novo regime installed in 1926, until the democratic coup of November 25, 1975. The directors' intentions totally backfire, however, since what the documentary makes really clear is how a small bunch of revolutionaries can manipulate a mob of peasants into performing acts it formerly considered unthinkable: namely, robbing and invading the property of others. Hence, this attempt at a pamphlet is actually a superb indictment of the communist/socialist opposition to private property. A must.