Caballero de la fortuna

I watched a dozen short films today, the live action and animated Oscar Nominees, plus two other animated shorts included to make the program long enough. This was the best.

I've seen it derided as a one joke comedy that wears very thin, and this would be true if it were a comedy. And indeed there was a scene, you'll know the one, where most of the people in the theater were laughing uproariously. I found myself attempting to get into the fetal position and unable to stop crying.

We don't do death well as a culture. Apparently the Danes don't either. Only the senior morgue attendant has been able to come to terms with death, and for him it has become banal. The acting is excellent, though Jens Jørn Spottag stands out as another man trying to come to terms with saying good bye to his wife.

This isn't to say that there is no levity here. There is a "meet cute" between Torben and Karl, and a simply amazing letter from Torben to his late wife. It must be seen to be believed. But ultimately all the performances are powerful examples of how poorly we deal with it.

For all its seriousness, Lasse Lyskjær Noer's "Knight of Fortune" is a comedy of sorts - not the type of comedy where you're laughing your cheeks off, but the type of comedy that one employs to distract from a more darker and hurting issue. This short film is about a recent widower coming to terms with the passing of his wife, but told in a rather socially awkward way, with the spotlight on the solidarity and the empathy of strangers. It's both funny and poignant, and with a tremendous sense of closure. It's very well written to be as absurdly believable, and that makes this short film stand out.

At morgue, a man front to the coffin of his late wife. To save the moment, he tries fix a lamp. Hfails. But the help offered to a guz , a sort of incident, the words of medic and the difficulty to open the coffin are good kicks to the reconciliation with sad moment.

Well acted, its message is very simple - the acceptance of loss of beloved one. Exactly the high realism , including obsessive observations about yello skin and open mouth are the essential pieces on this way. Like the support of a stranger.

A heartbreaking story, admirable proposed scene by scene. And inspired end about a sort of solidarity front the death of loved one.