Troubled Water (2008)

This film is going in dark territory. An incident leading to a boy death is the seed of the story. Will it be redemption, revenge, forgiveness, or understanding? It's a bit of everything in a background of light religiosity and evilness. Captivating.

A member of the relatively uncommon subcategory of films that have both an evil protagonist and powerful theistic themes, DeUsynlige, the fourth film from Norwegian director Eric Poppe, is both an engaging redemption tale and a soul-shaking study in faith. The characters are simultaneously good and evil which casts them in a refreshing and extremely human light. They do things like clean coffee off their sweaters and panic when they realize their number comes up. The nigh flawless acting allows for an immense amount of focus to be paid to what is actually happening in the minds of the characters. Viewers are gifted with the increasingly rare experience of glimpsing the raw and pulsating core of the human condition in a manner that is uncommon if not unique.Having seen Hawaii, Oslo, another film directed by Eric Poppe, the two-sided chronologically- simultaneous plot of the film fell right in line with what I have come to expect from Poppe. That said, to say that the split narrative format of the film contributes powerfully to the plot is a dramatic understatement. The split narrative develops first the character of Thomas right up to the re-collision of the two plot lines: the moment when he experiences the bewilderment and sadness in exactly the same fashion as Agnes. The following cut to the scene where Agnes discovers that her child is missing is the single most important component that makes this styling work. It draws the two of them together and unifies them as human beings with flaws and emotions and really frames the emotional distress experienced to the point where you can feel it weighing in your gut. Viewers are reminded that the character they have empathized with though the entire first half of the film has still done some terrible things. It brings the whole work back to reality and glues together the, otherwise quite tricky, split narrative brilliantly.Faith is perhaps the strongest theme throughout the course of the first half of the film. Thomas' views on religion are bleak and lonely. He sees no value in repentance, prayer, or communion; an odd stance for a man who works in a church. As he slowly begins to heal from his past and recover his normalcy his faith undergoes a parallel transformation. His friendship with Anna serves as a tether while he wades through his mixed feelings of guilt and abandon. With her help he comes to terms with what his past entails and begins to find inner solace. He even begins to partake in communion. His growth in faith opens the world to him. He is no longer constrained by his burden of guilt. He becomes purified and baptised in his growing love of Jens and Anna. The priest tells Thomas to "play them some good church music" and Thomas responds by playing "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In an almost fortuitous choice Thomas acknowledges that life is a struggle and suggests that maybe faith has something to do with a bridge to guard them to safety. The first half of the film is Thomas taking baby steps towards that bridge. His efforts to make a normal life despite his crimes are commendable to say the least. He does not seek forgiveness; only re-acceptance. Consequently, baptism is another powerful theme in the film. Baptism is a rite of admission through which an individual is inducted into the whole. With that in mind when Thomas gives up his christened name of "Jan" he is also accepting his separation from society. In the act of wading into the river to save the life of Jens, Thomas is baptised again and reunited as a unified person. His sins are divinely washed away in the current; as Anna said so confidently prior in the film "God forgives all". However the same does not hold true for humans. A Thomas that is washed clean of sin emerges from the river and submits himself for crucifixion. With his admission to Agnes Thomas resurrects the world against him. Anna, the one who whole heartedly preached the plan of God and forgiveness, casts him out and with a pained submissive understanding Thomas accepts the pain of parting with those he cares deeply about.A split-narrative style film so masterfully sewn together by strong religious themes and images fused with expert camera-work put DeUsynlige on a level that is something more than just a powerful redemption tale. Poppe has created something that does far more than tell a story. The film creates an immense sadness and relief that is almost palpable, and for that I give it top marks.

Troubled Water is a story of a young man and a devoted mother trying to move on from events that happened in the past. Of course, when the past is as complicated as the death of a child, it is hard to escape. Troubled water is a story of faith and religion, denial, forgiveness, redemption, and acceptance and rebirth.The story is told from two points of view: Thomas and Agnes. Thomas is released from prison after serving a sentence for killing a child. Agnes, as the mother of the deceased child, has very strong feelings about that. Soon after being released, Thomas gets a job at a church playing the organ. He bonds with the priest and her son while Agnes, horrified, watches. Neither Thomas nor Agnes is particularly religious but faith and religion come up a lot in the storyline. The pastor talks to Thomas and tells him that even the doubters have a place in the church. Religious icons are featured prominently in the story too. The inmates light candles during their church service to represent the hope they have. Poppe uses his camera to capture church imagery in his scenes. Several times when Thomas is sitting/standing near his organ the camera captures his head or his face but focuses on a statue in the background. The statue resembles Jesus and serves as a reminder that God sees all. Baptism is also a theme found throughout the movie. First, when the class field trip is learning about the baptismal font and at the end when Thomas and Agnes are in the water and undergo a baptism of sorts.Another theme that comes up in the film is denial. Thomas is in denial about what happened with Isak and Agnes is in denial about Thomas's intentions toward Jens. When people try to confront him with the truth, Thomas becomes angry and defensive. Many people remember that, during the trial, the two boys blamed each other for the death and neither took responsibility. Thomas maintains throughout most of the movie that Isak's death was an accident and he was not a murderer. At the very end after saving Jens and facing death Thomas admits that he killed Isak. When Agnes encounters Thomas she becomes very angry, even lashing out at the clergy at the church where Thomas works. She cannot understand why they would let Thomas near Jens and refuses to listen to the people who tell her that Thomas loves Jens. She ends up kidnapping Jens, thinking that it is for his own good, and demands answers from Thomas. When Thomas saves Jens Agnes understands that while Thomas may have killed her son he does not want to do the same to Jens. She realizes that Thomas isn't a cold-blooded child killer she once believed.Forgiveness is featured prominently She also believes that God's forgiveness is what most people really need. Throughout the film Thomas believes that he doesn't need to apologize to anyone and therefore doesn't need any forgiveness. At the end Thomas admits his guilt and he and Agnes share a long wordless moment together. Agnes touches his face, showing that she is at peace with what he did to her son.Following the theme of forgiveness is the theme of redemption. Anna states in the film that atonement is much better than forgiveness. While Thomas struggles with life outside of prison he tries to move on by being with Anna and Jens. When Jens accidentally hits his head on the wall, Thomas frantically checks his head for injury. Thomas's concern for Jens demonstrates his determination to do better and not let the past repeat itself.Thomas and Agnes are both broken individuals scarred by life experiences but they are able to move on with acceptance and rebirth. Thomas's broken hand represents his internal state. Thomas also is in possession of a broken mirror which gives his reflection a broken appearance. At first, Agnes appears to be of sounder mind. Her internal turmoil is slowly revealed, especially when she goes out to dinner with her husband's new boss. She ends up hysterically laughing over the loss of her son. She then makes an irrational decision to kidnap Anna's child. Thomas and Agnes's conflict comes to a head when they work together to save Jens. As I mentioned above, their dip in the water represents a baptism. As explained at the beginning, a baptism represents rebirth and the events that follow after the river demonstrate both Thomas and Agnes have been reborn. Agnes accepts Thomas explanation for her son's death and appears to be at peace. She returns to her family where they are united by love. Thomas's ending is more ambiguous but it is clear that he is more at peace with himself after his confession.I think this movie takes a complex issue and explores it very well. The death of a child is one of the most devastating experiences humans can know and not all reactions are the same. I really enjoyed this movie because it gives an accurate representation of the aftermath of such devastating experiences. I think that the message that atonement is much more important than forgiveness is an excellent insight of the human experience. This is because atonement represents outward actions that make things right while forgiveness is an inner feeling. Many people can benefit from atonement but forgiveness is limited.

'Troubled Water', directed by Erik Poppe, is a movie filled with emotions and honesty. We meet Jan Thomas, who is getting out of jail and trying to adapt to the life outside the bars. Accused for kidnapping and killing a young boy, Jan Thomas is trying to hide his past. It catches up to him when Agnes, the mother of the boy that was killed, shows up in the church where Jan Thomas is working. Jan Thomas plays the organ in the church, and develops a close relationship to the pastor, Anna, and her son. Throughout the first half of the movie we follow Jan Thomas and see his flashbacks from the incident where the boy was killed. However, half way through the movie there is a change and we start fallowing Agnes, who has been an invisible shadow in Jan Thomas' narrative. By presenting two sides of the same story Poppe makes it hard for the viewer to pick sides. This is easy to relate to; our sympathy shifts after hearing a different side of a story. As a viewer, one gets the feeling of being a judge in a courtroom with two skilled lawyers presenting their clients' stories. This type of a split narrative is original; however, extremely hard to do effectively. Poppe does only a decent job in my opinion; it is not that we get the story twice, but the fact that he builds up to a climax and then breaks it up by changing the main character and start the story from the beginning, which makes the audience lose focus. When the story catches up again and the two stories are combined, a part of the tension that was build up is gone.The main theme in 'Troubled Water' is forgiveness and relationships. Agnes needs Jan Thomas to tell her what actually happened with her son in order to forgive him, and Jan Thomas is desperately seeking forgiveness in order to move on in his life. The crime committed is very extreme, yet so real, which, combined with great acting, creates the feeling that you are standing in both Jan Thomas's and Agnes' shoes. There are many other relationships portrayed in this movie. The most interesting one is probably between Jan Thomas and the pastor's son, Jens. When they meet, Jens is wearing an almost identical shirt as the boy that was killed. Jan Thomas is scared in the beginning, the boy reminds him of the boy that died, but he learns to love Jens and overcomes his fear. Poppe has a unique way of using camera angles and music in order to emphasize and strengthen expressions and emotions. In this movie, Jan Thomas uses the organ to express emotions. Poppe is also paralleling the emotions created through the music with close-up on his expressions of frustration and sadness while playing. These types of effects are very useful in this movie especially because of the type of emotions that needs to be portrayed in a movie that involves the murder of a child. The title, 'Troubled Water', is an interesting pick. Throughout the movie we see scenes that involves water. The young boy is killed in the water, Jan Thomas is beaten up in jail in water, Agnes escapes reality by swimming in the pool at the school she works at, and the holy water in the church, are examples of the use of water that might be a reflection of the title. This symbolizes how the young boy died and should indirectly remind the viewer of the terrible thing that happened. A direct translation from the original title would have been 'The Invisible' which focuses on a totally different aspect of the movie. It is meant to focus on Agnes' invisibility in Jan Thomas' narrative. These are both important details to the movie and by publishing the movie in a different language, Poppe allowed himself to make the audience clearly aware of both.Although Poppe is moving into dangerous territory by directing a split narrative, he does it well. The creativeness of music, camera angles, and light used in this movie among with the phenomenal acting made this whole narrative extremely real. The fact that the scenes are filmed close to where I live made this movie stick in my thoughts for a long time after watching it. It is definitely not necessary to be from any of the Nordic countries to enjoy this movie. The unthinkable fear of losing a child and the thought of forgiving, or be forgiven for the crime of killing an innocent boy will catch the attention of anyone.