World of Glory (1991) Härlig är jorden (original title)

Director:

Roy Andersson

Writer:

Roy Andersson

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Plot:

A plain, ordinary man tells us about his work as a real-estate broker, his dead father, his ordinary home and so on in a naturalistic voice...

Plot Keywords:

Talking To Camera | Everyman | Dystopian | Brother | Husband Wife Relationship

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Klas-Gösta Olsson
Lennart Björklund
Christer Christensen
Bernard Eiger
Rolf Engström
Gun Fors
Udo Kühnapas
Hans Söderblom
Anne Tubin

Directed by
Roy Andersson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Roy Andersson

Produced by
Göran Lindström	....	producer
Freddy Olsson	....	producer

Cinematography by
István Borbás

Makeup Department
Lola Boström	....	makeup artist
Annelie Morey	....	makeup artist
Maria Werner	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Stig-Åke Nilsson	....	production manager

Sound Department
Kalle Boman	....	sound editor
Lars Malmström	....	sound
Johan Olsson	....	sound
Owe Svensson	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Jacob Jørgensen	....	director of photography: second unit

Editorial Department
Marianne Andersson	....	negative editor

Music Department
Antal Doráti	....	conductor: archive music

Other crew
Johan Carlsson	....	film technician
Johan Colding	....	film technician
Gunilla Huhr	....	continuity clerk
Johan Hultenheim	....	film technician
Nils Johansson	....	film technician
Robert Komarek	....	film technician
Hans Rinning	....	colorization

Production Companies

• Göteborg Film Festival
• SVT Drama
• Studio 24
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI)

Distributors

• Self Distribuzione (2006) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)

Also Known As:

"Härlig är jorden" - Sweden (original title)

Runtime:

14 min

Country:

Sweden

Color:

Color

Company:

Göteborg Film Festival

Movie Connections:

Followed by Betraktelse (1994)

An ironic title if ever there was one

This deeply effective and chilling short piece, shows the emotional toll of complacency in a world where genocide and inhumanity exists all around us.

From the opening scene;, the gassing of a bunch of naked people in the back of a van by bland bureaucrats in what is obviously not Nazi Germany, but somewhere in modern Europe, Andersson is unafraid to challenge our idea that it couldn't happen again. And we don't all carry the seeds of inhumanity within us. And that, by living in that kind of a world, we are eventually torn up inside.

We follow a cadaverous man, who has witnessed this horror at the opening of the film as he slowly breaks apart.

And yet, this is not really a drama, it's more a super-black comedy. Indeed, this short embodies the best description I have read about Andersson – "Monty Python meets Ingmar Bergman".

But that doesn't do justice to the fact that the man has created a new and unique film language, and (as the behind the scenes pieces on his new "5 X Anderson:" set DVD shows) Andersson works with a perfectionism that is almost hard to believe to get exactly the right feel, lighting, acting and tone for each of his 1 take long static scenes in 1 shot.

BTW - I highly recommend the set for any admirers of Anderson's work. Seeing his student shorts as well as his two 'professional' shorts, this and "Something Has Happened", along with an entire disc of his working methods, and thinking behind his images, is really quite a treasure.