I have seen all the Dogme 5 films, including IDIOTERNE, the second one. This one, unlike the others, is a complete waste of time except for Danish speakers. The long, inexact subtitles are too demanding and misleading; not that there's much of interest in the images, but I'll give the language difficulty the benefit of the doubt. It has been well received by Swedes and Germans who (especially the Swedes) can understand some of the dialogue with some ease. I found this Dogme 5 film, and one by the great Lars von Triers, a complete waste of time. We've seen it all before. It was like an inferior FESTEN 2, without the interesting set of characters, family interactions, and surprise plot twist. I knew no more about the "idiots" after the film finished than I did at the beginning, having read several synopses beforehand. A total disappointment. It's no wonder it hasn't been released in the US almost two years after its premiere. As allergic as Americans (unfortunately and intransigently, and due to films like this one) are towards "foreign" movies, IDIOTERNE will wildly fuel the fire over the "worthlessness" of "European" movies. Lars von Triers, after BREAKING THE WAVES (which no average movie goer here saw in spite of the awards and nominations), should know better than to be so self-indulgent, and commonly absurd. It's certainly neither original nor entertaining, and definitely not shocking. Lars, Scandinavians haven't shocked the world since the 60's. Just give us a good film!
Review of The Idiots
