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Rating: “It’s as easy as taking candy from a baby”.
Not that they are stupid, quite the opposite, but like little thirsty sponges, they are ready to absorb anything that is told to them because, unlike adults, they haven't lived long enough to doubt their actions. In this phase of learning and errors, telling lies is normal: some "experts" claim it's a sign of a good imagination and personality. Others, of course, are convinced of the contrary, and surely among the various children's books there will be a third current that will take a middle ground with the same unassailable certainty of being right on the solid basis of a vague groundbreaking study. Personally, I find myself in the scene of a child who forcefully shouts A, only to embrace Z, stubbornly denying even the existence of A. Confusing actions, continuously backpedaling: it’s in this chaos that we learn and grow. As a child, I was a smoking M-60 in action in Vietnam: on repeat! And I must admit that even if to this day I remain a decent and cunning liar, those childlike peaks are a faded memory: the clear eyes, the innocent face paired with the straw-colored hair have gone to hell forever and adults don’t get fooled so easily anymore.
The film I want to talk to you about today is called "The Suspicion". Even though it may look like a drag, (title, poster, and the winter location in Scandinavia are not exactly inviting) it deserves your visit to the cinema. I doubt these words will make you move, but the flu pushes me to try because it’s a committed film that has the ability to keep attention high until the end with a straightforward, clean, interesting, and current plot that delves into a problem that unfortunately has no solution.
It’s natural and logical for a child to tend to lie and mix what they’ve seen and heard as if it were lived reality; despite all this, if the kindergarten principal told me that my son/daughter claimed to have witnessed explicit obscene acts by their teacher, I don’t think I would play the rational inspector in search of the truth, but I’d go get the baseball bat from the closet. These revelations have the power to break a couple, a family, several lives. The suspicion would insinuate itself under my skin and would never leave. During the night, I wouldn’t sleep, and turning in bed, I’d start rethinking all those moments they were alone, asking myself a thousand questions; faced with the choice of believing my lying beloved child or my best friend, I’d break like a dry branch. And I’d end up choosing blood of my blood: I’d trust that little human being who knows nothing of the world, doesn’t realize the weight of their actions, and can’t do anything without external help.
The spotlight then falls on this distinguished kindergarten teacher who finds himself desperately fighting a frigid country that condemns him without trial and destroys his life with proven skill despite the immediate release by the local police. I really liked the film's ending for its harsh realism which, with a time jump of one year from the non-event, captures a bullet getting stuck in the bark of a tree not more than 20 cm from the protagonist’s skull. The suspicion isn’t forgotten: circumstantial bullshit and rhetoric aside, I mean. The director throughout the work uses photography and lights to accentuate the vast difference between the Christmas warmth and the murderous frost reigning in the country.
As mentioned, what’s highlighted in "The Suspicion" is a problem without a solution because believing in children's accusations is wrong, but also giving them the benefit of the doubt... How to reconcile the two when faced with such doubts? I believe that these nearly two hours manage to highlight how apparent and false the balance of our living is: a contradictory and shaky accusation extracted from an infant who can’t even evacuate without external help has the power to destroy, in the case of the film, a considerable number of lives.
The work aims to be detached and impartial, but in the end, the cut given by the director leans towards a critique of social workers and kindergarten directors who with too much ease make decisions of paramount importance, but in a hypothetical "The Suspicion 2," they could reverse the roles of good/bad without the slightest problem. Thanks to an honest cast (with the exception of the convincing performance of the protagonist Mads Mikkelsen), very well-curated photography and a not excessive length without yawn-inducing rhythms, Thomas Vinterberg has brought to light a convincing film that has the strength to remain impressed and could offer a very stimulating viewing experience.
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