Adam's Apples (2005)

Ivan is an insanely optimistic preacher who takes in convicts to help around the remote, rural church he ministers to. His current charges are a psychotic Saudi immigrant addicted to robbing gas stations and an alcoholic tennis pro convicted of sexual assault. His newest "helper" is Adam, a vicious neo-Nazi anxiously biding his time before he can return to hell-raising. Asked to set a goal for his stay, Adam sarcastically answers that he'd like to bake a cake. Ivan cheerfully takes that statement at face value and puts him in charge of the parish's pride and joy: the only apple tree in the vicinity. Grasping the extent of Ivan's crazed, preternatural determination to look on the bright side of everything - Adam immediately decides to shake him out of his rose-colored stupor. Product Description

The Book of Job, postmodern style

One of the things that the postmodern turn has given us permission to do is to read fresh perspectives into hallowed texts. Take the Book of Job, for example. For centuries, it's been viewed as a sober and solemn reflection on the mystery of innocent suffering. That's certainly one legitimate reading. But if you think about it from another perspective, the Book of Job is also incredibly funny. Poor schleppy Job initially refuses to acknowledge that he's really suffered any harm, even when it's apparent he has, on the grounds that what was taken from him wasn't his to begin with. When he finally comes round to the realization that he has indeed been screwed, his three Keystone Cop pals fall all over themselves to assure him that he really hasn't been because he deserved it all along. It's a funny story--but at the same time, a story whose insight into the human condition touches one's heart.

Anders Thomas Jensen's "Adam's Apples," a deadpan comedy that serves up a 21st century Book of Job, is just as funny and just as heart-breaking. Pastor Ivan (Mads Mikkelson) simply can't bring himself to doubt in God's goodness, despite the escalating Job-like tragedies that befall him: his mother's death in birthing him, sexual abuse when he was a child, his wife's suicide, his child's handicap, Khalid's thievery, Paul's drunkenness, the likelihood that Sarah will give birth to a deformed child, and Adam's (Ulrich Thomson) violence and cruelty. The undeniability of undeserved evil keeps piling up and Ivan keeps denying, going to such lengths to do so that, after awhile, the viewer can't help but laugh. When reality finally does puncture Ivan's illusion, he's "rescued" from despair in an equally laughable (because so implausible) manner (more detail would give the game away for folks who haven't yet seen the film), and the film winds up with a deliberately artificial happy ending--the same sort of deadpan that concludes the "real" Book of Job. And always in the background is the cynical and somewhat manipulative but not really evil God-figure--in the film's case, Dr. Kolberg.

Despite the vaudevillian humor in "Adam's Apples," the story of Ivan's constancy and Adam's transformation (not to mention Paul's, Sarah's, and Khalid's) gesture at great and touching truths. That's why, as a friend of mine said, this film is funny, sad, dark, and uplifting--and why it, like the Book of Job, has something worthwile to say.

Highly recommended.


June 17, 2008

Insanely great film!

I loved this movie! It left me dumbstruck with laughter and tears. Amazing acting, insanely dark comedy with light at the end of the tunnel! Who is crazy in this story? The reverend or everyone else? You can't be sure, but the answer comes by the end. The incomparable Mads Mikkelsen is amazing, and Ulrich Thomsen has to have the best facial reactions to what's going on around him I've ever seen. It's amazing. Others have done a great job describing the film, I'll just add my 2 cents that you should not miss this one! May 3, 2008

A Most Wonderful and Unexpected Find

Adams Apples is the blackest comedy that I have seen to date. I took a chance on this film not really knowing much about it, expect that is starred Mads Mikkelsen (he is an amazing actor) and that was enough for me.In my opinion he steals the whole movie. This movie is a great find and it really does make you think about good and evil, but in a totally unexpected way.One of the main characters, Ivan, only sees good in everything no matter how screwed up his life is and refuses to see it as anything but perfect becasue God loves him. The other main character,Adam, sees himself as the embodiment of evil and proclaims himself so and sets out to show Ivan that in fact God does not love him and that is why his life is as totally messed up as it is. What follows is the funniest jet black comedy, that keeps on getting blacker and funnier through out some crazy twists and turns. Though do keep in mind this movie is not exactly what we Americans would term politically corret, and that is a very good thing indeed.A movie well worth the subtitles. March 17, 2008

Outstanding!

It's unfortunate that every preacher/minister is portrayed a certain way in the media because of the limited thinking and exposure of the writers of such characters, but I have to say this movie is LOL funny and very well-written and has to be seen for the entertainment value alone.

The acting is OUTSTANDING! Another example of non-American actors who are more concerned with their art and craft as opposed to their image. It's simply amazing how this same group of actors can interchangeably portray good, evil, victim, victimizer with such humor and conviction.

Most importantly, "good" wins in the war over "evil" with "providence" as it's general. Though surprisingly violent at times, I HIGHLY recommend it and it'll be the first foreign movie I'll refer to others out of my collection! February 26, 2008

Religion for Agnostics

I first saw Adam's Apples on cable and knew I had to buy it as soon as it was available in the American market. Although it has too many f*** words for many of those who claim to be religious, this is as close to a religious experience as I have had for many years. In a way, it's predictable -- vicious Danish skin-head (Adam) is sent to finish his prison sentence doing public service under the tutelage of a rural pastor whose other charges include a former tennis player turned alcoholic and thief, and a terrorist who still goes around holding up service stations. This is very predictable because we know the skin-head is likely to undergo some kind of redemption. The beauty of this black comedy is in the How. The pastor is either the most insane fellow to wear the cloth or the holiest. Totally in denial, the pastor's sufferings -- abuse during childhood, suicided wife, profoundly disabled son and brain tumor -- are fully comparable to Job's. Indeed, when the skin-head finally reads Job -- the copy the pastor has given him keeps falling off the chest and opening to Job -- the result leads to a dramatic confrontation with the parson. Bent on destroying the crazy parson, Adam nearly achieves his goal of killing a man who seems totally out of touch with reality, and at the same time, holy. One dark-humored incident follows another. I found this movie to be a grabber. It stayed with me long after the closing credits. In our secular era, is it possible that salvation lies only in profound denial and near-insanity? This one is a keeper. Viewers who have a shallow theology should keep away from it -- not only because of the coarse language but also because of its dark humor and unusual moraltone.

Main negatives for me -- the translation could have been better. February 13, 2008

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