A Second Chance movie review

It is a genuinely touching piece of work and will leave the viewer thinking about it long after the images have dimmed from the screen. A Second Chance is a Danish film about real people who are forced into an unforgiving situation, with decisions taken by individuals that have an impact on a number of lives. It begs the question of how far would a decent human being go when a tragedy, which blurs the line between what is just and unjust, strikes.

Bier and writer Anders Thomas Jensen have crafted a riveting film, which illustrates how circumstances can make a person lose his grasp of justice when confronted by an unthinkable situation and where a human life is in the balance.

This emotionally gripping exercise, which also addresses urban problems of violence and drug abuse, plays out in the freezing Danish winter. Andreas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of Game of Thrones fame) is a detective who is called to a domestic violence dispute with partner Simon (Ulrich Thomsen) – and what they discover turns their stomachs.

A violent, tattooed ex-con and heroin addict named Tristan (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), is assaulting his helpless girlfriend, Sanne (May Andersen), during a bout of intense rage. After managing to subdue Tristan, the detectives also discover a filthy, badly neglected baby in a closet. The couple – too stoned at the time to fully comprehend what is going on – are taken in for questioning, but nothing is actually done by the authorities about their baby, Sofus, who is later returned to the couple.

Andreas understands these implications deeply. Married to Anna (Maria Bonnevie), he has a baby boy named Alexander. However, one cold night the baby is found dead and his world is turned upside down. Anna is in a terrible state and he cannot rely on the help of Simon – a recently divorced man who now drowns his sorrows in alcohol. So he hits upon a nefarious plan that will change all their lives dramatically.

A film where babies or animals are harmed or mistreated goes to the very core of humanity and in this production, Bier taps brilliantly into this, causing a wave of deep trepidation as the intimate story slowly unfolds.

The acting is first-class and one can feel the pain and suffering affecting the various characters, all of whom are attempting in their own ways to make some sense of their lives.  I found A Second Chance – which received the Signis Award at the San Sebastian Festival 2014, and was part of the line-up in the 2015 European Film Festival in Johannesburg – one of the most thought-provoking and engrossing films I’ve seen.