A fair-haired Danish do-gooder at an insolvent Bombay orphanage is summoned against his will to his native Copenhagen on a hat-in-hand fundraising mission, and upon arrival is summoned additionally to the wedding of Mr. Moneybags's daughter. To our surprise (and who else's?), Mrs. Moneybags turns out to be an old flame of the do-gooder, and the bride turns out (clearly to the do-gooder's surprise) to be his biological daughter. Despite the credible if sometimes histrionic acting of the unknown faces (plus the newly known one of the Casino Royale villain, Mads Mikkelsen), despite the vérité camerawork and jaggedy jump cuts, despite the Third World social consciousness, this is basic soap opera. To say so is not to denigrate it, but perhaps is just to wish that it had a bit more polish, a bit more shine. It is not pure soap opera; it is impure soap opera. The digital video looks pretty decent, compared, anyway, to what we got used to seeing in the Dogma 95 days of the Danish cinema. Still, it's a far cry from Universal Pictures in the Technicolor Fifties, and its grittiness and griminess stubbornly resist the suds. With Rolf Lassgard, Sidse Babett Knudsen, and Stine Fischer Christensen; directed by Susanne Bier. (2006) — Scott Marks
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