Borgman (2013) (Blu-Ray)

Armed men go into the woods to dig a tramp out of his underground bunker. He escapes and alerts two friends who are also hiding in bunkers. Next we see him asking the owner of a large detached house if he can come in and have a bath. He claims to know the owner's wife but she denies it. The owner loses his temper and assaults the tramp, who nevertheless hangs around and persuades the wife to shelter him. He cleans himself up to alter his appearance and becomes their gardener. His two friends turn up to help, as do two women who he contacts by cell phone.. This gang of five are all working to a purpose, but nothing is revealed. Lots of strange things happen. Anyone who gets in the way of the plan, starting with the original gardener, are either poisoned, strangled or shot and their bodies neatly disposed of.The film is obviously allegorical. It's left to the viewer to work things out because no explanations are given. It's my kind of film. I don't claim to understand it but I enjoyed it immensely.

Very good watch, I knocked a star off for the sudden ending, didn't explain a lot, but still an interesting watch.

Wholly unsettling study of a shaman/incubus/social outcast who unravels the life of a upper middle class family. Political and surreal.

amazing ... creepy ... watched several times

Future classic.Recommended

This is a difficult movie to review. It is very strange and most scarying, and the subject is highly unpleasant. But one is left very unsure whether this might really happen in our world (well, it might indeed somewhere under some unlikely and crazy conditions). At first, the plot seemed completely unrealistic, then it grew on me, and although I certainly did not like to watch it, I did so to the very end. Feeling sick all the time.So it probably deserves 5 stars actually, because one believes that the situation can not get any worse, but it does all the time - not easy to forget, and be warned: You want to forget this one as soon as possible. One is shaken, feeling very uneasy ............ and with a grudging doubt.War, deceit, murder, and slaughtering in general may leave you cold, but this one won't !!A beastly story, happening in a private home, maybe avoidable, maybe not - afraid that this is an excellent film, but certainly not recommended.And don't ever tell your children about it.

Good

Borgman is queer piece of cinema, challenging right from the off with the opening scenes of pursuit which point in a certain direction, but be prepared for your feelings to change as the story progresses. Writer / director Alex van Warmerdam's film bars very few holds, and yet it does not sensationalise increasingly troubling and occasionally brutal events, presenting them in a frank and open way, inviting the viewer to judge the participants and their respective fates. You would do well to prepare yourself to feel little sympathy for any of the characters, and yet there is something compelling about the spartan direction and the economy of the performances that will hold your attention to the end. Jan Bijvoet as the titular Camiel Borgman and Hadewych Minis as Marina are stand-outs, and deserve to be seen by a wider audience. One possible conclusion is that Warmerdam's script presents a black-and-white position in reaching a verdict, but in reality there are Lynchian levels of grey and plenty of scope for interpretation over a glass of wine (or two) afterwards. Well worth seeking out for those of a less delicate sensibility.

interessante thriller olandese.

It’s a great movie again directed by Alex van Warmerdam.

Una más de las varias películas en que una fuerza extraña se introduce en un hogar para (de diversas maneras y con diversos propósitos) dominar la voluntad de una familia y arruinarlo, aunque en general actúa como catalizadora de elementos previos a su llegada: los dos FUNNY GAMES (Haneke), MOTHER! (Aronofsky), EL SACRIFICIO DEL CIERVO SAGRADO (Lanthimos)... Sin olvidar las menos recientes VIRIDIANA (Buñuel), EL SIRVIENTE (Losey), TEOREMA (Pasolini), LA CEREMONIA (Chabrol). Si te gustan los finales definitivos, las acciones con un propósito claro... esta no es tu película. Si gozas recomponiendo, buscando las reglas y dando sentido a lo que ves en la pantalla, no puedes dejar de verla, aun no siendo excesivamente compleja. ¿Quién es Borgman, por qué hace lo que hace? Te doy dos pistas que permiten dos lecturas diversas: (1) una frase (que, por el estilo, parece una cita de un famoso libro religioso, pero que no lo es) con la que comienza el film y (2) una conversación que mantienen marido y mujer en que ella habla de "ser castigados". Pero, cuidado, cada pista te lleva hacia una lectura diferente e incluso opuesta. Hay elementos que son de difícil interpretación, sobre todo al principio). Desde luego no basta con verla una sola vez. No sé quién escribió que "la segunda lectura es la buena". Ah, fue el filósofo francés Alain (Émile Chartier). Lo mismo en el cine.Manuel González Ortiz

Such an interesting film. From beginning to end, this movie grabbed me and didn't let go. The characters and the situations just kept you wondering what all this was building up to. Even by the end *SPOILER ALERT*, you never do find out what it was all about. Despite the open ending, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this film. I saw some reviews that described this as a darkly humorous film. I did not find it humorous. Good movie. You should watch it.

Non, contrairement au descriptif du produit délivré par le site, le DVD ne possède pas de piste audio en V.F