Sydney Film Festival 2006: Adam's Apples

Adam's Apples, directed by Anders Thomas Jensen 2005.

If you get the chance to see this movie don't pass it up. That would just be plain rude.

Criminal versus priest, faith versus cynicism, crows versus Khalid's gun....can it get any more intense than that?

Before I go any further I think its a good idea to let you know that I absolutely love this movie. If you're expecting an objective review you probably can stop reading now. If you read on, hopefully by the end I will have convinced you to see the film....

Adam's Apples starts off with Adam, a hardened criminal of staunch neo-nazi beliefs, being dropped off by a beat up blue bus in the middle of a deserted country road. Nothing but sky and fields can be seen anywhere on the horizon. However, Adam does not have to wait long until he is picked up by the priest Ivan (who is played by the extremely talented Mads Mikkelsen.)

The film wastes no time in setting forth the sort of subtle yet absurd humor that seems to be pervasive in every aspect of the feature. Ivan runs down Adam's convict sheet noting, "It says here that your EVIL. That's just rude. I don't think anyone is evil." After some cursory looks at Adam's file Ivan informs him everyone who lives at the church must set a goal for himself. Trying to be difficult Ivan states he wants to bake a pie. To Adam's surprise Ivan jumps at the idea and informs Adam his goal will be to maintain the church apple tree until August 1st and then bake an apple pie. As Adam is soon to find out, this task proves to be anything but simple.

What follows is a film that at its heart is about personal transformation, having faith, and the powers of perception. What Adam sees as blind stupidity combined with bad luck, Ivan sees as a test from the devil. Who is right? In the end perhaps both are right.

What truly surprised me about this film is how incredibly funny it is throughout its duration. I've seen movies that are funny, those that are serious, and those that alternate between being funny and serious. I can't for the life of me think of a film that managed to simultaneously operate on both a funny and serious level for an entire film. When I laughed I was also registering the serious dramatic gravity of the situation you were laughing at. Adam's Apples is definitely not a fluff film, it has something to say and that is never lost no matter how hard it causes the audience to laugh.

I actually hesitated in writing anything on this particular film because I didn't feel that any words I might put down would do justice to the film. It's hard to describe how you manage to fall in love with everyone of the characters in this film. Ivan is a priest who has completely tuned reality out, Adam is neo-nazi with an attitude, Khalib likes to rob Statoil gas stations, and Gunnar is a failed tennis player who has a penchant for kidnapping and raping women. How do you convince someone that these are endearing characters? All I know is that I would loved to have heard the pitch to get this film financed.

The writing and acting in this film are so expertly executed, that it is easy to lose sight of the quality of the visuals of the film. Jensen manages to make a truly beautiful film that is so consistently simplistic and subtle that the beauty of each scene seems to slip under the radar.

I saw this film in the State Theater which seats approximately 2,000 people. When it ended it received by far the loudest and longest ovation of any film that I have seen at the festival. I noted the film as being by far the best of the festival when I saw that, nothing I have seen since has managed to change the outlook. What else can I say, see it!

****Four Stars