In A Better World (2011)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 114
Fresh: 88 | Rotten: 26
In a Better World is a sumptuous melodrama that tackles some rather difficult existential and human themes.
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 7
In a Better World is a sumptuous melodrama that tackles some rather difficult existential and human themes.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 6,441
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Movie Info
Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness. Anton and his wife Marianne, who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older, ten-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has
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Cast
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Mikael Persbrandt
Anton -
Trine Dyrholm
Marianne -
Ulrich Thomsen
Claus -
Markus Rygaard
Elias -
William Jøhnk Nielsen
Christian -
Bodil Jorgensen
Headmaster -
Elsebeth Steentoft
Signe -
Martin Buch
Niels -
Anette Støvlebæk
Hanne -
Kim Bodnia
Lars
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In A Better World Trailer & Photos
All Critics (114) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (88) | Rotten (26)
True, the resolutions on offer seem conventionally pat, yet the tough questions stay with you in an absorbing drama which pushes the viewer's buttons with effective intelligence.
Top CriticSusanne Bier's latest meditation on grief and the boundaries of family -- which won this year's foreign-film Oscar -- is a tough piece of work, subtle in some ways, obvious in others, viscerally affecting throughout.
Simply put, this would be a better world if there were more films like In a Better World.
An ethically ambitious, morally thoughtful - and deeply vexing - drama about the fragility of civil order and the menace of the lawless.
Asks worthwhile questions about how fathers can best lead their sons, about the expectations placed on men by society and about their struggles with their inner violent impulses, which can lay so dormant and unnoticed, then, in a frightening rush, explode.
[This] encasing parable is brand new and immediately provocative.
A most deserving Oscar winner and a film that could provoke discussion anywhere it is shown, anywhere people of any age are being bullied
Film defies conventional expectations about biblical notions of retribution, even as it initially prepares you to accept them. A truly complex work of art.
Un estupendo drama contemporáneo sobre algunos de los conflictos más básicos que acechan a hombres y mujeres de bien en cualquier rincón del mundo.
It would have worked better if it weren't so obvious and manipulative. About halfway through, it plays more like a diagram of lessons learned than a movie about real people dealing with complicated problems.
The microcosm of the children's world is exceptionally well drawn.
In addition to being safe and non-threatening, Bier's film finds time to throw in mentions of cancer and divorce, and images of poor children starving in Africa. It's pretty much a recipe for an Oscar.
Essentially an essay about bullying ( ... ) and the abuse of power, it will probably be appreciated most by people who want to keep up with [Susanne] Bier's maturing catalogue.
It's well made but too flawed to be a satisfying cinematic experience.
The superb acting - the youngsters are particularly good - and Bier's sympathetic direction help overcome the occasional lapse into melodrama.
Though the performances are excellent, it aint no Dogtooth.
The film is built on strong performances and some powerful moments, though its subtleties risk being eclipsed by contrived emotional pyrotechnics.
The movie holds your attention, but you leave discussing the manipulative plot rather than the moral issues it raises.
A thought-provoking, powerfully acted and resonant exploration of rough justice in the modern world...
Bier's strength is storytelling and her ability to find actors to do those stories justice.
I wished I liked it more. But, for all its good points, this film is a high-concept contrivance of the sort Bier turns out easily, and looks like a faintly preposterous cine-soap opera for haemophiliac-hearted liberals.
A well-acted if glibly configured statement about violence begetting violence on two continents.
Bier, when she allows herself, loves the peripheral as much as the portentous. She understands that an image can tell more than words, more than even 1,000.
Director Bier and her regular screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen construct a believable series of events where notions of Western civilisation as opposed to Third World moral disarray are put to the test.
A compelling coming-of-age story and an intriguing examination of notions of masculinity.
Bier excels in this humanist field, coaxing and combining both subtle and theatrical performances from her actors that place her at the top of her game.
Audience Reviews for In A Better World
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Christian: No one will dare hit me now.
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- Elias: Hi Dad!
- Anton: Hi sweetie, did we agree to talk today?
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Latest News on In A Better World
March 31, 2011:
Critics Consensus: Source Code Is Certified FreshThis week at the movies, we've got a funny bunny (Hop, starring James Marsden and Russell Brand);...
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Foreign Titles
- In einer besseren Welt (DE)
- In a Better World (Hævnen) (UK)
