Der Weg der Schlange auf dem Felsen (1986)
46KDer Weg der Schlange auf dem Felsen: Directed by Bo Widerberg. With Stina Ekblad, Stellan Skarsgård, Reine Brynolfsson, Pernilla August. A salesman and his son sexually abuse the generations of women of a poor family as payment for debt. Janni must see his mother, sister, niece and wife all being exploited, and the family grow bigger with the abuser’s kids.
“In the 1880u0026#39;s, poverty-struck northern rural Sweden, a widow and her family is tormented by a despicable landholder/merchant who demands that the lease for their house, is to be paid in sexual favors once they canu0026#39;t afford the monetary one.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA very strong, simple basic story of old-time oppression, poverty and evil, is inexplicably mauled by a frustrating editing chopfest-technique (title cards, short take, cut – title cards, short take, cut… etc.) one expects to find only in a butcher shop. Itu0026#39;s nearly impossible to connect with any character fully, by this type of storytelling and minimal dialog.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso, because of the limited and claustrophobic setting, the endlessly repetitive dark and murky misery almost becomes a parody of poor rural folk suffering u0026amp; drudgery in itself: By the umpteenth time bad guy Skarsgård enters the log cabin and wheezes: u0026quot;Itu0026#39;s time to talk about the leaseu0026quot;, Iu0026#39;m actually laughing in the midst of deep tragedy – and THAT is a huge problem for any filmmaker. And do we have to read the book to find out what the fudge exactly happens in the (is it metaphorical?) end? Against this, the memorable performances by Ekblad, Skarsgård and Brynolfsson fight as fruitlessly as their characters against a perpetual winter. Sadly, supposedly a top filmmakeru0026#39;s worst movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy tip: for better depictions of my countrymenu0026#39;s gripping fates from this time period, check out Jan Troellu0026#39;s u0026quot;The emigrantsu0026quot;! u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e3 out 10 from Ozjeppe.”
