Unlike most bullying films, which tends to show the bullying itself, Återträffen focuses on the consequences of those actions in adulthood. The main character, Anna, is a successful famous artist who was bullied in school, as a child/teenager, for 9 years. The film is divided into 2 parts.
Part one starts with a reunion party, 20 years after school's end. Anna uses this opportunity to say all that she didn't have the strength and courage to say when a child. Despite Anna's portrait being very well executed, the attention is easily deviated to the expressions of her former classmates. The hypocrisy shown by them is what one can expect, at least what I deeply expected. People just have a hard time admitting their mistakes, specially when those mistakes can tear one's world apart. Even more when this one is a child, an innocent child.
Part two happens after the reunion, which didn't happen like showed in part one. We discover it was nothing but an What-If. The truth is: Anna was never invited for the real reunion. What we saw was just a movie that she decided to make about it, about how she thought it would have been. She then starts contacting her former classmates and shows them, individually (or in small groups), her movie. Again, the expressions are incredible. This time, though, the excuses for why they did that are even more deranged. You can clearly see that deep down they know that what they did was wrong.
You may feel that the ending is somewhat inconclusive, since nothing big happens, but that's just how things are, how the world works.
The soundtrack isn't particularly perfect, but it suits the film pretty well and also have some memorable moments.
The acting is superb. From the bullied to the bullies. You can easily feel disgusted by how the bullies deal with the shocking truth. Just watch it for yourselves.
Maybe you were bullied or you were a bully. Maybe you were simply someone who stood there, watching someone being bullied. Or maybe you did something to stop it. The thing is, nearly all of us have seen, done or suffered from it, but not all may realize that it did happen. Because it is not comfortable, because it was wrong.
To me, this film was something entirely incredible. It is far from perfect, but as a whole, it is a rare 10/10.
Part one starts with a reunion party, 20 years after school's end. Anna uses this opportunity to say all that she didn't have the strength and courage to say when a child. Despite Anna's portrait being very well executed, the attention is easily deviated to the expressions of her former classmates. The hypocrisy shown by them is what one can expect, at least what I deeply expected. People just have a hard time admitting their mistakes, specially when those mistakes can tear one's world apart. Even more when this one is a child, an innocent child.
Part two happens after the reunion, which didn't happen like showed in part one. We discover it was nothing but an What-If. The truth is: Anna was never invited for the real reunion. What we saw was just a movie that she decided to make about it, about how she thought it would have been. She then starts contacting her former classmates and shows them, individually (or in small groups), her movie. Again, the expressions are incredible. This time, though, the excuses for why they did that are even more deranged. You can clearly see that deep down they know that what they did was wrong.
You may feel that the ending is somewhat inconclusive, since nothing big happens, but that's just how things are, how the world works.
The soundtrack isn't particularly perfect, but it suits the film pretty well and also have some memorable moments.
The acting is superb. From the bullied to the bullies. You can easily feel disgusted by how the bullies deal with the shocking truth. Just watch it for yourselves.
Maybe you were bullied or you were a bully. Maybe you were simply someone who stood there, watching someone being bullied. Or maybe you did something to stop it. The thing is, nearly all of us have seen, done or suffered from it, but not all may realize that it did happen. Because it is not comfortable, because it was wrong.
To me, this film was something entirely incredible. It is far from perfect, but as a whole, it is a rare 10/10.