The Experiment (2010)
"Eksperimentet" (original title)

THE EXPERIMENT is the story of the nurse Gert, who is appointed as headmistress of a special children's home, owned by the Danish state in Greenland, 1951. The children's home is intended ... See full summary »

Director:

Louise Friedberg

Writers:

Maj Rørbæk Damgaard (idea), Louise Friedberg,

Stars:

Tanja Kielsen, Laura With Bødker, Julia Naamansen

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tanja Kielsen	...	Kirsten
Laura With Bødker	...	Johanne
Julia Naamansen	...	Victoria
Benjamin With Bødker	...	Benjamin
Pilutaq Mati Stork	...	Abel
Najaaraq Stork	...	Cathrine
Nukappiaaluk Nielsen	...	Jonathan
Cecilie A. Kjeldsen	...	Helene
Hugo Magnus Jerimiassen	...	Otto
Iben Constance Francie Lange	...	Petrine
Charlie Lange	...	Lars
Sten-Peter Sanimuinak	...	Konrad
Aputsiaq Jensen	...	Ole
Najaaraq Margit Davidsen	...	Dorthe
Kristian Falck-Petersen	...	Daniel

Storyline

THE EXPERIMENT is the story of the nurse Gert, who is appointed as headmistress of a special children's home, owned by the Danish state in Greenland, 1951. The children's home is intended to accommodate 16 carefully selected Greenlandic children, who have just come home after a year of civilization in Denmark. Now they are to be introduced into the Greenlandic community as role models. Gert, who lives alone and has no family, accepts the assignment with pride. She is idealistic and ambitious and feels passionate about saving Greenland from destitution. The means to this end is to educate and civilize the 16 children in the Danish language and culture, so they can spearhead Greenland's transformation from being a poor hunter society to being an equal part of Denmark. Due to her blind faith in the experiment, Gert underestimates the obvious personal costs to the children. And when the children as well as the Danish state fail her, she finds it harder and harder to maintain her idealism.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish Greenlandic

Release Date:

9 September 2010 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

The Experiment

Filming Locations:

Fyn, Denmark

Box Office

Budget:

DKK 23,300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nimbus Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Middling Second Rate Drama from Denmark

The movie defaults on exposition early on as it is explicitly states its entire theme in bold letters in 3 - 4 paragraphs displayed before the beginning of the film. What we get after that is a decently lensed but horribly scripted drama that is extremely confused about its own intentions.

The child actors are very good indeed but the lead performance by the actress playing Gert was horrible as well, one moment dominatrix, another moment motherly, it was all unconvincing as hell.

The entire drama was so vague but so on-the-nose about its theme (WE WRONGED GREENLAND) it was actually infuriating. Avoid at all costs.