deUSYNLIGE

Some movies are made for afternoons. Be it comedy, drama, European, Hollywood; it doesn't matter, what makes them perfect for a quiet and calm afternoon is the profound character study you do not see in many other movies. Within the stillness and loneliness of the day, you become an almost real part of the story; you walk with the characters, you laugh with them, cry with them, you live within them.




DeUsynlige tells the story of a 4 years-old boy's murder and its aftermath 8 years later, from the perspectives of both the murderer and the boy's mother consecutively. While Jan Thomas tries to build a new life being released from prison, playing organ in a church, with his clear talent, just as he did in jail, Agnes, the long suffering mother, tries to reconcile with the fact that her little boy's murderer is out there holding all the keys to her pain.


What makes the Norwegian director Erik Poppe's 2008 film DeUsynlige so strong and so impressive is that it does not get superfluously emotional, although the subject is highly convenient for an excessive show of sentiments. Both perspectives are incredibly clear and objective,there is even a third view, an extremely objective one, rooting from those of the characters; it is the director's, it is ours, and what you feel, it's up to you. Adding the perfect images, the power of the organ Thomas plays and the overall mood, DeUsynlige becomes one unforgettable film, certainly one of the best Norwegian movies in the past few decades. I, personally, have not seen such a character study for a long, long time, and yet, part of this study becomes my making, thanks to the certain unrevealed details to be completed by the audience.


I will not give further details here, in order not to spoil the feeling you can get from the movie. What I will say is, if you have a calm and quiet afternoon one of these days, spend it with DeUsynlige, and make it soon. You will not regret it; and I guarantee you that for the rest of the day, and possibly a few following ones, you will be thinking of the many other details that you keep on finding through an inevitable analysis. Hunting for the remaining Erik Poppe movies now!