Et rigtigt menneske

Walther and Charlotte are a not-so-happily married couple with a daughter named Lisa, and would have had an older son if they hadn't chosen to abort him. Lisa imagines that her brother lives inside the wall of their apartment. As this Dogme95 film opens, the building that they live in is about to be torn down, and when it is torn down, we see someone crawl out of the rubble. He thinks he is Walther and Charlotte's son and he appears to be in his early 20's, but he doesn't know his own name or have any idea about even the most simple aspects of daily life. How this simple man interacts with the not-so-simple world is reminiscent of Chauncey Gardner in "Being There," while the strange aspects of his origins makes it feel just a little like "The Sixth Sense."

This fantasy aspect makes this an unusual Dogme95 film, and would seem to break rule #8 (genre movies). It seems likely to me that rule #2 (sound) was also broken at times, and I'm not sure about #5 (optical work and filters). As far as the acting, which is normally what makes or breaks a Dogme95 film, the parents and other "normal" people were fairly good, while the main character was a bit weak. If you're a fan of Dogme95 films or if the description sounds intriguing, this film is definitely worth seeing. Seen at the San Francisco International Film Festival on 5/1/2002.