TITLE: Review: Ordet (1955) AUTHOR: Joe Johnson DATE: 11:18:00 AM ----- BODY:
Arts and Faith ranks Ordet (The Word), Carl Dreyer's penultimate work, as its premiere selection on its list of spiritually significant films. There's something provocative about that ranking, like it must be the one film that every spiritually curious film watcher must see. Considering that Dreyer is also responsible for The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), it's hard to imagine him producing a more significant, more spiritual film. I'm not sure that Ordet towers over Joan, but it is different, vital and well worth watching.

The story centers on two Danish families in the 1920s, both with differing concepts of faith. This distinction isn't anything as obvious as Catholic - Protestant. Presumably it's Reformed and Free Church, which is probably enough diversity for its time. Much like the better Woody Allen films, several subplots converge into an overall theme: the question of faith, in a generic Protestant Christian sense. It isn't about any particular doctrines other than a refutation of God's absence and the possibility of miracles.

The subplots are where the drama distinguishes itself. The governing character, Morten Borgen, patriarch of the Borgen family and lord of Borgen farm, is a man of particular devotion. He is conflicted in his purity of faith, desiring to keep a firmness but always undermined by his affection for his children. Morten sits in conflict with Peter Petersen, the leader of a small band of religious experientialists. Petersen is convinced of the exclusive orthodoxy of his religion, telling Borgen that he is hell-bound and needs to join and convert. Like "Romeo and Juliet", the families' divisions are emphasized by a romance between Anders Borgen and Anne Petersen.

The other two brothers of the Borgen family accentuate the religious obsession. Mikkal is an agnostic, patient with his father's faith but unimpressed. He is a good man and seems the most steady of the cast, apart from his devout wife Inger. Mikkal's brother Johannes is a theology student who over immersed in Kierkegaard. His spiritual quest consumed him until he lapsed into a mental state with a serious identity problem: Johannes is convinced he is the second coming of Jesus. He mopes around the house, quoting scripture.

The plot comes into focus through a conflict between Morten and Peter over the forbidden romance. Inger, who is about to deliver Mikkal’s first son, interrupts the bitter exchange. Her pregnancy becomes complicated and questions about the survival of the baby and Inger dominate the remaining half of the film. It is in the wake of such turmoil that the faith and agnosticism of the characters become tested. They must all face what they know to be true, all with Johannes becoming more mystical and challenging the quality of the Borgens's belief.

Other than having religious themes, Ordet has very little in common with Dreyer's Joan. That earlier film was abstract and frenetic. It was full of drama and venom, expressionist in concept and design. Ordet is methodical and plain, taken from a stage play by Kaj Munck. It suffers from the source material as a film, staged and shot with long uninterrupted shots. It has more in common with Hitchcock's Under Capricorn than Dreyer's silent work. But that change in style and pacing serves the film. Around the hour mark, the background development begins to elevate the story. The pacing and conflict increase and moments of music and silence play against one another.

While the first half of the film is deliberate and thoughtful, it is with the second half that those investments become valuable. Will Johannes regain his sanity? Will Ann and Anders be allowed to marry; will Peter and Morten settle their feud? Will Inger, Mikkal and the baby survive?

The test of a great film is not only in the questions it is willing to ask, but how it ultimately confronts those questions. Ordet isn't content to simply inquire, but has the courage to confront questions. That isn't to say that it provides simple or satisfying answers, but the film concludes with conviction and decisiveness. Dreyer's Ordet is a truly compelling and rewarding film, as full of pathos and angst as anything Bergman produced, but saturated in the warmth and possibility that made another Danish film, Babette's Feast, such an endearing work.

****1/2 of *****

Notes:
1. Birgitte Federspiel (Inger), also plays one of the elderly sisters in Babette's Feast.
2. This is a difficult film to find. For some reason neither Netflix nor Blockbuster stock it. It is, however, available for purchase at reasonable prices from Criterion.

Labels: ,

--------