Movie Review SSJ

I started to try to watch the original Danish DVDs, and after choosing a lot, acquiring some, and seeing a few, combined with my own feelings during my few months in Denmark, the best Danish movie of 2001, “A Short and a Long En kort en lang”, should be the first film I recommend, because the movie itself is a part of a country’s society and culture. Before I started writing, I wondered if we could try to find one representative film of each country that best represents the culture of that country. I haven’t seen many Danish films, but at least for now, I think this film is a reflection of Danish society, and I added “ideal” because the director is still full of idealism when it comes to the betrayal of love and fidelity.

Jacob is a very talented architect, and on his birthday, he decides to propose to Jørgen, a gay man he lives with, after much deliberation. The proposal scene is very funny (to me, lol). The two older men sit on the floor of the checkroom, Jacob wearing a pink-trimmed shirt and Jørgen wearing a flowered hat, and Jacob, very shy and blushing and affectionate but not afraid to face Jørgen, says: Will you marry me? Jørgen stands up and makes a declaration of love, slow and heartfelt, with a sincere and passionate gaze, “I will marry you!” This is the beginning of the movie, starting with a marriage proposal. The birthday celebration got even more heated!

Their friends continued to laugh and talk, but one of them, Caroline, had to leave first because she needed to go back to take care of the small children. Her live-in lover, a pilot, unfortunately couldn’t join them for the celebration this time. While kissing her goodbye, Jacob suddenly had a strange feeling that the two seemed a little unable to immediately separate their lips, a scene that only ended when another gay male friend bumped into him. The unprecedented awkwardness and strange feeling was created from then on!

Jacob began to lose his soul, and began to focus on another woman all the time in his life, something that simply could not happen before. Because he felt that he only loved men, and only one man, not to mention that they were about to get married. However, things that shouldn’t happen still happened. He looked for every opportunity to see her, found every excuse to talk to her, and even started to get a little uncomfortable when talking to Jørgen at home. He and she finally had trouble restraining themselves and embraced, on a night when Jacob had concocted a lie and left the house. They try to stay out of sight and date as secretly as possible, but things finally get out of hand and Jacob confesses to Jørgen that on the night in question, Jørgen was out driving and had a car accident that left him blind in one eye. But even that can’t stop Jacob and Caroline from having a secret date. Caroline is pregnant. Now it’s time for them to face reality!

Jacob proposes to Caroline, who wants to have a child and was planning to adopt a child with Jørgen. On Jørgen’s birthday, it was the same group of friends, but he was ready to be absent. He packed his things and decided to move out. On the day of the wedding, Jørgen decided to leave Copenhagen, a place that had broken his heart. At the wedding, as the priest asked them if they wanted to be husband and wife, Jacob’s mind recalled the scene at the beginning of the movie when he proposed to Jørgen on his birthday. Caroline saw his hesitation and handed Jacob the flowers she was holding and gave him her blessing. Thus, a chase of love and time begins. The film constantly shifts shots of Jørgen boarding the plane for takeoff. The classic chase scene is invoked where, unable to drive, Jacob pulls a patrolling policewoman off her horse and has a friend suffer in her stead while he rides to the airport. Despite arriving late at the airport, though, the movie naturally does not disappoint. The plane turns back, he runs on board and finds Jørgen in the cabin. the two embrace and kiss as if no one is watching ……

And Caroline was walking down the street in her white wedding dress, with her big belly, when her old difficult friend, the father of her previous child, opened the car door. She got into the car and life was back to normal from then on, that is, she was carrying a Jacob’s child in her belly.

When I was studying at the language school, I was given a copy of the Danish Citizenship Handbook, which stated that Danish society does not allow discrimination against anyone in terms of gender, ethnic origin, color, religious or political beliefs, sexual orientation or ability to act, nor does it allow violence or circumcision against anyone. Mutual respect and understanding between people and groups of people is a fundamental principle of Danish society. If these are only literal understandings, then this film is the best illustration of this passage. Understanding and tolerance is the theme of the film, although often the degree of understanding and tolerance is not measurable depending on the person, but the film still makes the ideal a reality.