On Sunday,January 15, 2012, Cinema Art Bethesda will present the Danish film, In a Better World (Hævnen). The film is 119 minutes long and in Danish with English subtitles.

Synopsis

Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness.

Anton and his wife Marianne, who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older, ten-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London with his father, Claus. Christian’s mother recently lost her battle with cancer, and Christian is greatly troubled by her death.

Elias and Christian quickly form a strong bond, but when Christian involves Elias in a dangerous act of revenge with potentially tragic consequences, their friendship is tested and lives are put in danger. Ultimately, it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy.

(text directly from official site)

Selected Awards & Accolades

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
US Academy Awards

Best Distributor & Best European Film
Golden Globes, Italy

Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globes, USA

Selected Reviews

Houston Chronicle
– Amy Biancolli

Susanne Bier’s latest meditation on grief and the boundaries of family — which won this year’s foreign-film Oscar — is a tough piece of work, subtle in some ways, obvious in others, viscerally affecting throughout.

National Public Radio
– Bob Mondello

There’s sufficient craft that you go along with the twists, even as director Susanne Bier is wrapping things up with a neatly tied bow. But in a better world, In a Better World would be a better movie.

The New York Times
– A. O. Scott

“In a Better World,” directed by the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier and written by Anders Thomas Jensen, is an elegant, somber scourge for the guilty conscience of the affluent, liberal West. Or, to put it another way, “In a Better World” is the winner of the 2011 Academy Award for best foreign language film. I’m not trying to be glib — well, maybe a little — but rather to put my finger on the merits and limitations of this ethically serious, aesthetically graceful and curiously bloodless movie. — A. O. Scott

Trailer available on official site or watch the embedded YouTube video below.