faith in death, faith in life
by Douglas Messerli
Kaj Munk
and Carl Theodor Dreyer (screenplay), Carl Theodor Dreyer (director) Ordet (The Word) / 1955
Carl Theodor Dreyer's Ordet is a study in various degrees of
faith. Certainly in Munk's original 1932 play that statement might suggest a
kind of Ibsen-like dialectic, a stage-bound discussion of serious religious
issues; in Dreyer's version, however, everything is honed down to the lives and
the works characters, and, although, at
times, the film does move toward the edge of the murky theological concerns
behind the original work, for the most part Dreyer grounds these characters in
their daily actions and their motivations in their struggles with faith have
more to do with one another and the communities in which they live than in the
abstract ideas behind them.
That is not to say that Dreyer's work is not true to Munk's more polemical
play, just that Dreyer has refocused the play, as critics have described it
again and again, to its essentials. For Dreyer, the film's title, "The
Word," matters less than the actions his characters play out in
relationship with one another. For Dreyer, the human face is always at the
center of his significant films, and it is the interconnections of the beings
these faces represent that is of what is most importance.
Morten Borgen (Henrik Malberg), the patriarch of the Borgen family, has
created a clean, well-run farm a ways out from the village, which seems to be
rich in sheep, pigs, and other commodities. At the center of this rich-seeming
life is his daughter-in-law, Inger (Birgitte Federspiel) who is a strong
believer, but who nonetheless lives a rich sexual life with her husband Mikkel
(Emil Hass Christensen), as well, balancing her deep faith with an almost
innocent and certainly lovingness of the world at large. In her daily acts of
cleaning and cooking, advising and simply expressing her joy in life, she is at
the center of Borgen existence.
Mikkel, a born agnostic, has no time for religious faith. But Inger
recognizes that he has something more important, a good heart, and she is happy
in their relationship. The youngest son, Anders (Cay Kristiansen) seems to have
no interest in the various relationships with belief that trouble his family;
as a young man his whole attention is taken up with his love of a young village
girl, Anne (Gerda Nielsen), the daughter of the tailor Peter Petersen (Ejner
Federspiel).
It is the second son, Johannes
(Preben Lerdorff Rye) who most troubles the family. Sent to theology school,
having the gift for philosophical thought, he has gone mad studying the works
of the great Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard, believing he is the
reincarnation of Christ, and spending his days warning his family and neighbors
of their errant ways for refusing to recognize him. Despite his father's
deep-held beliefs, Johannes is now a sad embarrassment of all his hopes that he
might raise a son who could bring the community at large into a deeper
commitment with God. Ironically, that is what Johannes has done, but his
"leap of faith" has also taken him beyond the understanding of these
ordinary folk, and despite Morten's prayers that his son might return to
normalcy, the mad son sneaks out of the house early in the mornings to preach
to an absent audience from the cliffs of the beach. The whole ordeal has shaken
Morten's faith as well.

Only two major events, the search for love and a difficult childbirth,
bring these various struggles with belief to a head. In his attempt to marry
Anne, Anders begs that Inger and his brother Mikkel talk to his father Morten.
As delicately as she can, Inger approaches Morten, who remains—at first to our
way of thinking inexplicably—opposed to Anders relationship with the tailor's
daughter. Despite Inger's gentle persuasion, the patriarch remains adamant.
Meanwhile, Anders has been encouraged by Inger and Mikkel to talk to
Anne's father about his love for her. That interchange is even more
discouraging, as Peter not only refuses Anders his daughter's hand, but kicks
him out of his house, insisting he is not worthy of her. What we discover is
that Peter and several townspeople belong to a far more fervent religious sect
who meet in his house for prayer revivals. They are what might be described
today as "born-again" Christians, unaccepting of the other
church-going locals.
When Morten hears of Anders' treatment, he is outraged and, taking the
boy in hand, returns to Peter's home, amidst a religious meeting, to talk to the
girl's father about his behavior. The meeting ends badly, with Peter insisting
that such a marriage could only take place if the Borgens convert to their
sect, as Morten, refusing, outlines what he sees as the difference between
them: his is a faith of life, while their's, he insists, is a faith of death.
During this intense conversation the telephone interrupts to tell Morten that
Inger is in childbirth, having a difficult time of it, demanding that he and
Anders return home. Peter takes advantage of the situation to warn Morten that
he must face great sufferings for his stubborness, almost implying that he
seeks Inger's death. A fight insures, broken up by the families' children.
Back at the Borgen manor, Inger is indeed very ill, near death. When the
doctor arrives, he is forced to cut away the baby, their first son, dividing
the body into four parts. But Inger has survived, and Morten and the children
can only be joyful that she lives. Johannes, however, continues to see the
angel of death cross in and out of the room, warning that Inger will die if the
family does not join in prayer and accept his intercession.
Angry, Morten dismisses his son. But just as the doctor leaves, what
Johannes has foretold occurs: Inger suddenly dies, the family becoming
devastated. Only Johannes insists that she can still be brought to life if they
only hear the word of God. Frustrated, Mikkel takes Johannes into his bedroom
to have him witness Inger's corpse, Johannes collapsing into a kind of trance.
The next day, he disappears, the family unable to find him and return him home.
A death certificate is signed, funeral notices issued, and, a few days
later, a funeral is underway. Peter, reading his Bible, is suddenly struck by
his own lack of Christian behavior to Borgen and the family, realizing his has
failed "to turn the other cheek," and with his wife and daughter
determines to attend the Borgen funeral.

Suddenly Johannes reappears. He seems to have recovered his self, having
abandoned the mad look of his eyes. But he is just as adamant in his
denouncement of the whole community, not one of whom have prayed to God that
Inger might be returned to them. He has convinced Inger's young daughter,
however, that we will raise her from the dead, and she, a complete innocent,
stands with him encouraging him to hurry with the act. With her faith beside
him, Johannes prays, asking for the right word to raise Inger from the dead.
Naming Christ, Johannes prays for her salvation.
Instinctively, I find something stagey about this ending, with a kind of
deus ex machina intrusion that doesn't seem necessary given
Dreyer's argument throughout for a religion of life. Yet these men and women of
faith in such a provincial and isolated world, would have seen such an
occurrence precisely as this. If we, like the Doctor, can dismiss these events
as simply mistaken diagnoses, we are certainly the less fortunate for it. And
it is precisely this miraculousness of the human spirit which the film throughout
has so carefully detailed.
If Dreyer's great film does not dismiss the beliefs of these tormented
small farmers and towns-people, perhaps we should equally embrace their gentle wonderment,
accept the miracles of their faith.
Los
Angeles, August 28, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment