The film opens on the streets of India. The scene is one of movement, a sea of people and cars surrounded by a parade of brilliant colors. The vibrance of mid-day almost makes the poverty pleasant to look at. The pick-up truck in which we’ve been riding pulls up and stops in front of a crowd of small children and a Danish man begins handing out bowls of food.
Twenty years ago, Jacob Pederson was a drunk. His intentions to save the world were many, but he couldn’t make good on those intentions. After an act of adultery, his girlfriend left him and returned to Denmark. He’s finally put all of that behind him though, and is now helping to run an orphanage. But the orphanage isn’t doing well, in fact they’re almost out of money. Their last chance to keep the orphanage open is a rich, Danish philanthropist.
There are probably some things I should fill you in on. When Jacbo’s girlfriend left him, she was unknowingly pregnant with their child (a daughter). After she returned to Denmark, she married a portly billionaire (good for her) and settled down. Now the billionaire is terminally ill (bad for him), but he’s keeping that fact a secret from everyone … until after the wedding.
I liked this film for many reasons. First and foremost, the characters are well written and behave as you’d expect them to. There aren’t any random plot twists that contort the story and force us to re-evaluate how we feel about anyone. To me, sudden character modification is a cheap trick used to build interest in the absence of a well written story.
Venue: Netflix streaming
Country: Denmark, etc …
Language: Danish, etc …
Genre: Drama