User reviews

A year before Danish playwright and Lutheran pastor Kaj Munk was murdered by the Gestapo, his play 'The Word' was committed to celluloid by one of Sweden's finest directors Gustaf Molander. It has of course been overshadowed by Carl Dreyer's spellbinding version from 1955 but the earlier film has great merit.

Molander's style of direction it totally different from that of the Danish master and the performances here are more 'animated' and full-blooded, not least that of Victor Sjostrom who pulls out all the stops as the family patriarch Knut Borg. The mystic Johannes is played by a mesmerising Rune Lindstrom who also wrote the screenplay. Great support from all concerned and a taking performance from a young Gunn Wallgren as the ill-fated Kristina.

Dreyer's film is set partly in the village where Munk had been vicar but apart from the prologue we see little of the countryside whereas Molander has opted to take the piece out of the proscenium arch and there are views of the landscapes that have shaped these characters' lives.

As one would expect, Dreyer's austere and slowly paced masterpiece is more faithful to the original and deeply spiritual but Molander's treatment is more filmic whilst his depiction of mental instability, crisis of faith, grief over loved ones lost and eventual reconciliation brought about by virtue of a 'miracle' is no less moving.

I find it hard to understand how this version can be so little known because the film is frankly qualitative and the actors are all very good.

Death in this film has an impact, so that each of the deaths is significant and rather touching, misfortune falls on the characters and we can feel it.

The film succeeds in transcribing for us the emotions of the characters, especially that of the father, in a very clear way, he succeeds in making us feel his despair, where the illusion would not take for many films, and that proves that the film, despite its seniority still has an impact on its viewers.

First, I must say I don't write in English very well. I study English, a little bit, in the school. I speak and write usually in Spanish and Basque. Well, I think this is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Johannes is a magnificent character and two scenes with Johannes and his nephew, talking about nephew's mother... are great. The story is about life, dead, love, faith and a lot of "people's problems" At the end, is a story about the meaning of life. I like movies. Love stories, westerns, "film noir", adventures films... but occasionally you can see a movie like this that makes you love this art too much. You're not seeing a film, you're living the film. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

This black and white picture was filmed while Denmark was occupied by the Nazi in World War II. This film clearly shows the simple living conditions with a family who has a mentally disturbed son who thinks he is Jesus Christ and goes around quoting Bible scripture and is able to tell tragic situations that seem to face the family long before they happen. The acting was very well performed by all the actors and the director of the film showed his great talent in portraying deep facts about LIFE & DEATH and what LIFE is all about, which we all eventually face in the course of our lives on earth, sooner or later. You have to have a great deal of patience with this film, as it is very slow paced and very long and drawn out. Try to view the picture to the very End.