Ordet, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Denmark, 1955, 125’ 4K DCP, OV DK, Sub EN-ES
Remastered 4K DCP. International revival at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale Classics.
Ordet was the film that launched the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer to fame and won him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (1955). It is the adaptation of a play for the theatre by Kaj Munk that addresses a concern for the dignity of all human beings, their values and ideals, and love – all reflected from the point of view of religious faith.
The film tells the story of a rural family in 1930 and is considered to be one of the major works on religion in the history of the cinema: The elderly farmer Morten Borgen has three children. The middle one, Johannes, a former theology student, tends to identify himself with the figure of Jesus Christ. The rest of the community thinks he's crazy. But, Johannes is able –thanks to the strong faith of his niece– to bring his sister-in-law and the mother of the little girl, who died during the birth of her third son, back to life. By doing this miracle, he also brings about the reconciliation of two families and introduces the agnostic father of his niece to faith.
The new digital restoration by the Danish Film Institute is based on a digitally remastered version done by Palladium in 2008. The original negative in 2K was scanned and, thanks to improvements in digital restoration techniques, its damage from transference during the first digital remastering was able to be touched up and the piece was then remastered in 4K. The international premiere took place at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, in the Berlinale Classics section.
Ordet was the film that launched the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer to fame and won him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (1955)