Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Rafe Spall, Darren Evans, Elis James, Joel Fry, Martin Frisley Ammitsbol, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Benedikte Hansen, Vicktoria Noell Ingberg, Jeanette Lindbaek, Simone Lykke, Steve Speirs, Benny Botchiaer Thomsen, Maylenah Carmen Angellina Wiliemsborg, Tim Woodward.
It is tempting at times to believe Government rather than Time and fate deal the cruellest hands when it comes to the way the ordinary person is dealt as if they have no right to expect decency or even just a quiet unassuming life, that the conspiracy of action is just that, kick a person when they are down and with that tough love they will raise themselves out of the situation they have been placed in, as if by magic, their lives will be restored, that growth and strength comes from being treated abysmally.
We only have to look at the way the keyboard commentator treats the individual down on their luck to understand that for some the limited number of choices is further eroded by the lack of care in an unsympathetic world. This loss of self-pride, of being used as a statistic to be swept under the carpet, to be denigrated by the media as the role of the feckless and deserving, is systematic to the way humanity, urged by Government, further divides us all.
It is in this division that the individual, broken, cold, scared, suffering from depression, and lack of opportunity, becomes fixated on turning away from the problems and to whom death or incarceration is the only escape. For at least in prison, they have a roof over their head, they get peace of sorts, they get a meal, and when looked in that circumstance, it is understandable that prison becomes an answer to solving the root cause of Time’s decision to beat us down, and Government’s insistence that we are to blame.
In one of the most heart-breaking and hopeful finishes of any film in its class, One Way To Denmark tackles this breaking of the human spirit with insight, one willing to be explored by both the director, the superb Adrian Shergold, and the insightful writing of Jeff Murphy; the result of the combination, as well as the frail and downcast nature of Herb, framed beautifully by the excellent Rafe Spall, leads the watcher towards the path of compassion, of empathy.
In moments of absolute clarity, the belief that Herb’s problems will be solved if he gets himself arrested in Denmark, where he has found out that prisoners lives are valued as human beings and not a number in which to exact persecution, in the touching desperate moves he takes to psyche himself up to commit a crime that will take him out of harm’s way, in these moments, the pain, the fear and the senselessness of life for many is not only revealed, but act as a damnation to all in command and to those who see such lives as being wasted.
Such a film will always turn on a redeeming moment, and One Way To Denmark is no different, and yet whilst the sweet delivery is expected, it still creates hope in the heart that for people such as Herb, there is hope, that prison is not the answer, that death is not the solution.
Superbly acted, One Way To Denmark is a snapshot of one man’s life that could be any one of us given the wrong circumstances, the unhelpful mental abuse exacerbated by government. It is only a matter of when, not if, such a moment is touched upon by us all.
Ian D. Hall