Submarino (2010)

Two brothers meet at their mother's funeral, each in his way on a path of self-destruction, both haunted by a tragedy in their youth.

Director:

Thomas Vinterberg

Writers:

Jonas T. Bengtsson (novel), Tobias Lindholm (screenplay)

Stars:

Gustav Fischer Kjærulff, Sebastian Bull Sarning, Mads Broe Andersen

10 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gustav Fischer Kjærulff	...	Martin
Sebastian Bull Sarning	...	Lille Nick
Mads Broe Andersen	...	Lillebror (as Mads Broe)
Jakob Cedergren	...	Nick
Peter Plaugborg	...	Martins far
Patricia Schumann	...	Sofie
Morten Rose	...	Ivan
Henrik Strube	...	Jimmy Gule
Helene Reingaard Neumann	...	Mona
Dar Salim	...	Goran
Esther Hancock	...	Nabokonen Vørle
Henrik Petersen	...	Forsvareren
Lisbeth H. Pedersen	...	Sagsbehandler (as Lisbeth Holm Pedersen)
Elias Ehlers	...	Carsten
Sebastian	...	Baby

Storyline

As children, Nick and his little brother take care of their baby brother while their mother drinks herself senseless. But the baby dies, and both brothers blame themselves. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick meets his brother at the funeral. The brother, who remains nameless, is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again.

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Plot Keywords:

baby | funeral | drugs | friend | boy | 

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Taglines:

Nogle gange vil fortiden ikke give slip (Sometimes the past won't let go)

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

MK2 [France] Official site [Denmark]

Country:

Denmark Sweden

Language:

Danish

Release Date:

1 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Na dnu

Filming Locations:

Vesterbro, Copenhagen, Denmark

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nimbus Film Productions,TV2 Danmark,Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Submarino is the name of a common torture method among the world's prisons, the prisoner is hanged upside down with the head inside a recipient full of water, feces, urine among other things. The movie takes this as a metaphor because all the characters are sunk into violence, alcoholism, drug addiction and twisted sex and, in those situations, is very difficult to breathe.

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Connections

Featured in DR2 Premiere: Episode #4.1 (2010)

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Soundtracks

Fatherless Hill
Lyrics by Gasolin (as Gasolin') & Mogens Mogensen
Music by Kim Larsen & Wili Jönsson (as Villy Jønsson)
Performed by Gasolin'
© 1975 Sony Music Entertainment (Denmark) A/S

User Reviews

Entertaining but depressing stories with two brothers in problematic circumstances

We see two separate but continuously interleaving stories of two brothers, each trying to cope with their daily lives, overall providing for a pessimistic view on their lives, riddled with drugs, violence, alcohol, bad housing circumstances, but at the same time trying to deal with their responsibilities like caring for a kid. The title of the film says it all: it stands for a method of torture, where someone is kept under water until he nearly drowns.

Though knowing no people living in similar depressing circumstances, casting and acting looked very convincing to me. Apart from that, we saw a sequence of events that kept us wondering what would happen next. All this resulted in a "page turner" experience, fundamental to a good movie.

Alternating between the stories of the two brothers was an extra bonus that made this film entertaining throughout. They each live their own separate lives, under circumstances that are very different but equally troublesome. Their respective paths cross each other in less than a handful of situations. Once you get a fix who the main characters are, this way of structuring two story lines works perfectly.

The film opens with a prologue, wherein two young boys imitate the baptism of a newly born child "just like they do in church". After that, the real story takes off, but I could not connect the dots at the point where the prologue moves on to the actual two story lines. Maybe I was not paying attention enough. I had to wait until the final scene before I understood. Regardless, it did not hinder my appreciation of the film as a whole.

Given all things happening you cannot expect everyone to live happily ever after. Nevertheless, the finale of the movie shows a moving scene under impressive musical tones, where even the toughest role players seem to show some tears. It may be intended by the film makers to leave us with an optimistic feeling after all, with some silver lining around the clouds.