Review: Darkland
When I hear about Scandinavian cinema, I immediately think of movies like In China They Eat Dogs [IMDb], The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [IMDb], The Green Butchers [IMDb] or Adam’s Apples [IMDb]. All of them are either known for their bluntness, an excessive amount of unconcealed violence or just the level of insanity that surely must have gone into making them. Filmmakers in the northern countries definitely built a reputation for unconventional movies that are very different from what the larger audience has gotten used to watching the usual box office hits.
Yesterday our Sneak Preview team decided to play Darkland [IMDb, Trailer (YouTube)]. It tells the story of Danish cardiologist Zaid (Dar Salim), whose family immigrated from Iraq to Denmark 30 years ago. Everything in his life seems perfect; he is successful at work, married to a beautiful wife (Stine Fischer Christensen) and about to become a father. In their high-class apartment they frequently meet with friends over a posh dinner and expensive wine. Basically, Zaid is portrayed as the perfect immigrants’ offspring, who integrated well into society and identifies himself as Danish.
One day, in the middle of a nice dinner, Zaid’s younger brother suddenly shows up. He did not follow in his brother’s footsteps but got involved with the wrong people, who now expect him to come up with a lot of money he doesn’t have. Zaid has no patience for his begging and sends him away empty-handed. A few days later his brother is brought to the emergency room, where he soon succumbs to his severe injuries.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, Zaid starts to regret his decision not to help and not to take more interest in his family. While he went off to get an education and build a life, his parents never managed to move on and still live in the suburban “ghetto” surrounded only by other immigrant families. Zaid confronts his father about his inability to start a new life in Denmark instead of wallowing in self-pity over their lost home. He in turn accuses his son of forgetting his origins and not taking care of his brother.
Over time Zaid finds out about the gang that has a tight grip on the Iraq community in Copenhagen, how they turn young men into criminals and that his brother had gotten involved with them. When he inquires about the police’s progress regarding his brother’s murder, the responsible commissioner quickly turns from friendly and understanding to blaming the immigrant community for not keeping their children in check and makes it quite clear that very little effort will be spent on this case due to its nature.
Up to this point the movie is very intense, uncomfortable and brilliantly conveys the main character’s hopeless and conflicting situation. After that it turns, however, as Zaid decides to take matters into his own hands. He goes into full Karate-Kid-Rocky-Die-Hard-mode with secret martial arts training, obtaining a gun and bullet-proof vest and building a black motor bike with matching outfit. As a medical professional he has knowledge about and access to performance-enhancing drugs, which he uses to turn himself into a fighting machine within days. He tracks down gang members, beats them up to get more information and all that while keeping up appearances of being an upstanding citizen. You can easily guess the remaining plot.
According to IMDb, director Fenar Ahmad created this movie based on a personal experience involving his own brother. You definitely wonder why somebody would make this kind of movie, because without any foundation in reality I really could not imagine a reason to pick this story. It is definitely a bold move to make a movie that focuses on immigrants and parallel societies in such a way. It only works due to the very clear distinction between “good” and “bad” immigrants and having them turn against each other without any real external influences. Otherwise this could easily be perceived as nationalistic or even xenophobic, but because they chose their method of telling the story so carefully, I believe that this is not the creators’ intention at all.
As you can probably tell from my tone, I am not a big fan of the story. It is very linear, transparent and — at least towards the end — ridiculous to some degree. There are, however, a couple of aspects to this movie that I really enjoyed. The first thing is the camera work, which is unconventional to say the least. Instead of having wide and easy to follow shots, the movie mostly shows close-ups of the characters or just in general a limited view of the current scene. This does a great job of pulling the viewer deeply into the story, as it turns them into more than just an observer. During the dinner scene in the beginning, the camera focuses on the room in the background instead of the people talking, which is an ingenious method to convey that Zaid’s thoughts are wandering. There are a lot of these fairly small, but significant touches that definitely define the movie’s unique visuals.
A major part of this movie is a constant feeling of unease. As viewer you are kept on the edge of your seat, but not necessarily by the action or the tension, but because the movie is uncomfortable. The topics that are brought up, Zaid’s initial helplessness and the stark contrast between his almost perfect life and the world of violence and crime just down the road are unpleasant to watch and think about. The soundtrack chosen for this movie is an important ingredient to ensure that the viewer can never really relax. It is very dark, with a lot of grumbling bass lines that almost hurt. They give a clear indication of the mood, even if the images let up for a moment.
All in all this movie was an interesting experience. It definitely fulfilled the initial expectation I had when I realized that it is of Scandinavian origin. Fenar Ahmad can stand proudly with his fellow filmmakers as he created an unconventional movie that is beautifully made. I can absolutely appreciate the craftsmanship that went into camera, editing and music. But I can also safely say that if I recommended this movie to a friend, I would most likely do him a disservice. It is not an entertaining movie and I am convinced that only a small audience can appreciate its hidden qualities.
