De beste går først (2002)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Hans Petter Moland

Writer:

Erlend Loe (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Nine oldtimers come upon a young woman stuck in a swamp.

Plot Keywords:

Young Woman | Song | Hike | Mud | Rescue

Awards:

9 wins

Cast

Eilif Aasen	...	Chorist
Rolf Brandt	...	Chorist
Leif Guldbrandsen	...	Chorist
Kjell Gundersen	...	Chorist
Trond Høvik	...	Lasse
Roy Johansen	...	Chorist
Ole-Jørgen Nilsen	...	Ragnar
Elin Sogn	...	Ung kvinne
Magnar Stenhaug	...	Chorist
Ivar Stubberud	...	Chorist
John Svendsen	...	Chorist

Also Known As:

United We Stand (International: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:9 min (Worldwide Short Film Festival)

Country:

Norway

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Company:

Motlys

Trivia:

Part of the omnibus survey of international shorts, "The World According to Shorts"

Youth Must Be Served

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Norway is not much represented in major cinema these days, but this short film turns up occasionally on the short-subject circuit and is, for a one-reeler, quite amusing. The story is quite simple: nine elderly men get together in the backlands to go hiking, as they apparently have for seventy years -- they sing songs like 'The Internationale', long an anthem of socialism -- and find a young woman trapped in a marsh. Making a chain, they get her out and she waves goodbye and goes on her way, while they sink slowly into the earth.

Doubtless there is some symbolic meaning to this piece, but what I find worthwhile about it is the nice photography of the wildlands -- if anything, too pretty, with its crags and sun dappling between trees and the occasional moose -- as well as the good humor with which they accept their doom. It's worth a look if the opportunity arises.