Snow Therapy

Greetings again from the darkness. No one has sung the words "I'm a MAN" better than the great Muddy Waters, but even he would have been unable to bounce back from the ramifications of the split-second reaction of Tomas when things go awry at lunch.

Writer/director Ruben Ostland delivers an intriguing and thought-provoking look at gender roles and the definition and expectations of masculinity, especially within a family. What makes a real man? What is a hero? Is our predilection of survivalist or protector hard-wired into our DNA? And what happens to a relationship when the foundation of respect crumbles? Would you believe this film tackles these emotional issues, and does so in such a brilliant manner, that we often find ourselves chuckling (albeit with a tinge of guilt)?

A family vacation in the French Alps takes a turn when, while lunching on a veranda overlooking the ski slopes, a controlled avalanche goes wrong and the café is threatened. Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) grabs his phone and goes scurrying for protection, while his wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) covers the kids and calls for his help. Both are instinctive reactions, and while one recalls George in a "Seinfeld" episode, the other is more in line with what we expect from a parent.

While the avalanche turns out harmless and the family members are physically fine, the emotional shockwaves of Tomas' actions reverberate through the family ... and even through another couple (Kristofer Hivju, Fanni Metelius). There is a exceptional dinner scene with the two couples which brings the issue to a head, and it's excruciatingly painful and funny to witness. It's terrific story telling and filmmaking and acting.

This is Sweden's submission for Best Foreign Language Oscar, and it must be considered a favorite so far. Though I'm not a huge fan of the final 15 minutes, that doesn't take away from the questions as the characters try to come to grips with the situation. Really nice contrasts between dark humor, disappointment and broken trust.

Force Majeure attempts to find deep meaning in a husband's failed response to a sudden crisis. A family's routine ski trip is thrown into turmoil when he responds poorly to an apparent avalanche. The movie is largely a character study of the aftermath. The problem is that it is one of those movies with virtually no sympathetic characters. As such it's a bit of a difficult watch. It is hard to join the movie in its search for meaning, when the main characters are so alienating and off-putting. Even the kids in the family aren't particularly sympathetic. Further, the movie attempts to wring way too much melodrama out of a relatively minor incident. For me it was more tiresome than enlightening. Finally, I thought some of the plot devices were amateurish; too many plot twists depended on cell phones not working. While I appreciated the film's ambition, it did not work for me.

The Europeans do this kind of film so well. You let ordinary people in a fairly common situation play out a theme. It poses questions that all of us can relate to and therefore and at the same time, entertains. No need for explosions, cartoon violence, or impossible crisis after impossible crisis. Therefore the emotions revealed are subtle and appropriate. (Think Manon de Sources for example - although this is not as good)! Some of the camera work in the mountains is so straightforward yet produces breathtaking results. Artificial avalanches are created to preempt natural ones and provide safety for the snow lovers. You could almost be there. The actors are relatively unknown so there is no baggage, no false expectations, no subliminal 'hierarchy of the characters.' It's what gives the story its power. I saw this at a film festival which shuns Hollywood's attempts at drama ( thankfully) to bring nuggets like this. I know it went down well at Cannes and its failure to get an award surprised some.

I have to say that at the end of the movie, I ended is a mild state of shock that lasted at least 20 minutes before I could start to assimilate the content of the movie. Visually the movie is well executed, the sceneries are not complex but the shots fit perfectly the situations that happen along the movie.

About the movie as a whole, I could say that you could easily write a book about it, is so full of different things like human emotions, psychological collapses, marriage problems, bizarre situations, funny scenes that could produce so many different reactions on people, the nature of the female and male towards protecting others... I could go on and on and on. I think that at the end of the movie the viewers will have a lot to talk about.

If you are a passionate and curious person and you take the decision to see this movie, be patient and enjoy it from the beginning to the end without interruptions.

This was billed as "wickedly funny" and a "dark comedy" but I never laughed once. It's not a terrible movie, but it is decidedly not funny. It's borderline depressing much of the time to be honest.