You can size this window and keep it along side the Film List. All reviews will be displayed in this window (if it is still open). If you came here from a search engine you can use this link to get to the film list.
Fem benspænd, De (2003)
(aka Five Obstructions)
Seems like a documentary, but is really a film.
Others have reviewed this as a documentary of a competition, and that is what it seems to be on the face of it. However, when you have finished watching, particularly paying attention to the supplied commentary, think about films by Kieslowski and Piesiewicz who gave us the Three Colour Trilogy. There is a story in them, but the story is not the film; the film is at a higher level and is the collection of thoughts and ideas that the film maker is trying to convey using the story as a vehicle.
The same thing is happening here, the documentary is not the film, but just the vehicle for the director (in my view this is Lars von Trier and not Jørgen Leth as is credited - think Dogme rules) to get across his ideas and thoughts on creativity in the process of film making.
What occurs in this film is 5 remakes of Leth's original black and white short "The Perfect Human" under rules that von Trier imposes, a new set of rules for each remake. We learn as we go along that this process is for von Trier to help his friend understand how he makes films. In a film with a story we would expect, or hope for, some character development as the story progresses. What we get in this is a development of motives as we find when we get to the final obstruction. This is where von Trier's overall plan for the film becomes clear.
Do not think too much about this film or try to puzzle out what it is about before you have seen it. Watch it as though it were a documentary on short making and let the film interact with you as you watch it. There is a concept well known in the Fine Art world of the Beholders Share (E. H. Gombrich) in which "the spectator brings an image into existence by perceiving and understanding it". In my view this applies just as much in the film world.
If you love to have a film to think about then this is definitely one to consider. If not, then you can still enjoy the film on a superficial level if you are interested in how films are made. If you are after thrills and spills, then this is not what you are looking for.
Other reviews:-