Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.
Rated 4.5 / 5 from 1 log on Katalog
I was postponing watching this movie for a long time because it’s based on true events, the kind of true events whose adaptations I generally refuse to watch. I hesitantly decided to watch it after all because I’ve read that it’s exceptionally well-done, and I’m glad I did. All the elements come together so well. I’ve felt drawn and trapped inside the movie — gothic-like visuals, eerie soundtrack, faces you can’t look away from. From the first until the last scene, the movie guides us through various apartments, public and private spaces, from clothing, hygiene and hairstyles to interior and street design, through incredible amount of detail we’re immersed into different lives of the post-war Copenhagen. To me, it was neither emotionally manipulative nor exploitative of post-war poverty and misery. If you think about it, all these characters’ moral choices actually have little to do with the fact that they live in a struggling post-war society. Cruelty and compassion are found in all spheres of life: disfigured soldiers, working-class business owners, factory workers, unemployed pregnant women, circus visitors, wealthy mothers, hesitant mothers, man-child-sons, there is no rule and no circumstance that explains any of their empathy or cruelty. Women are not treated favourably, embellished or offered relief for their struggles. It’s disturbing, it’s uncomfortable, you could call it nihilistic, or you could call it, you know, the reality for women for most of history.
