Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Involuntary (Sweden, 2008) Ruben Ostlund director


Filmed static camera in long takes. The movie intercuts between unrelated stories. 

A bus driver stops at a roadside restaurant for the passengers to eat then refuses to go further until someone admits that they broke a curtain rod in the bathroom. No wonder his wife left him. A teacher witnesses a shop teacher abuse a child then listens to the others in the teachers lounge badmouth the kid and his mother. An old guy is seriously injured in a fireworks accident during a party and refuses to get medical help. Teen girls take vaguely salacious pictures of themselves and drink heavily. One is left passed out drunk while the others run away from an angry motorist. And there was a gay thing I didn't quite follow. 

Don't be a Swede. Calling 911 is one of life's simple pleasures. You don't need permission to call paramedics. Report child abuse. If the schoolmarms turn on you, report them, too, if they give you half an excuse. I've never heard any teacher ever say anything nice or even neutral about any parent. This is apparently true even in Sweden. Calling for help is probably better than carrying an unconscious teenager to your car and driving off with her. Maybe he didn't have a cellphone.

Available on the Criterion Channel.

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