This is one of the best films I have ever read. A man, Adam Pedersen, played by Ulrich Thomsen, is newly released from prison into the custody of an overly optimistic Priest, named Ivan, and finds himself torn between admiration for the man, and blind hatred. Ivan, played by Mads Mikkelsen, has a son; the child is suffering from MS and bound to a wheelchair. Ivan treats his child with the same love and expectations which any father would show towards their offspring. He talks with him as though there were nothing wrong. His willingness to ignore all the evil in his life drives Adam crazy! This is not comical type crazy, this is pure hatred.
Adam is asked to take on a goal. He states that he wishes to bake a pie, using apples from the tree in the churchyard. Ivan consents to this arrangment, aware that Adam is merely trying to make a fool of him.
Slowly, as Adam's anger at Ivan's seeming indifference to hardship mounts, his anger bursts, causing an ugly confrontation which has surprising results. Which is the stronger of the two; faith, or hatred?
Directed with great sensitivity by Anders Thomas Jensen, who also wrote the script, this is a film you will want to visit again, even after you have seen it once. Though the film is in Danish, you will forget that you are reading within 5 minutes of starting this remarkable film.
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