the fresh films reviews

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Belønningen (1980)

Director:
Bjørn Lien
COUNTRY
Norway
GENRE
Drama
INTERNATIONAL TITLE
-
RUNNING TIME
84 minutes
Producer:
Odd G. Iversen
Lasse Sæther
Screenwriter:
Bjørn Lien


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Reidar Rolf Søder ½
Sverre Nordvåg Joachim Calmeyer
Ann Elsa Lystad ½
Unni Tone Danielsen ½
Rune Nils Sletta
Terje Svein Sturla Hungnes ½
Terje Lars Andreas Larsen
Elisabeth Norvåg Bente Børsum
Fossum Per Erling Dahl
Politimann Ingar Gimle

 

Review

Belønningen deals with the after-effects of WWII in Oslo, contrasting the lives of two former work colleagues who chose different allies during the war: Reidar joining the resistance and Sverre doing work for the Germans. The former has ended up down and out on the street, the latter is a prominent business man, ostensibly as a result of the profits he made from his war-time contracts. The film is told from a highly socialistic viewpoint, but without bias or simplifications, and this makes it both interesting and valid, despite director Bjørn Lien's amplified lingering over the film's small-scale incidents. What Belønningen cannot conceal, however, is its clumsy craftsmanship and often awkward dramatizations, stemming from the contemporary Norwegian film tradition to which the film belonged. Some of the performances have potency, but the performers (especially those in supporting roles) are either overly theatrical or completely incompetent, and the result is often melodramatic in a film that would have profited from a more pragmatic narrative approach.

 

Copyright © 15.3.2011 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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