Danish master Carl Dreyer's ( The Passion Of Joan Of Arc ) penultimate film, Ordet ( The Word ) treats its intensely emotional subject matter – religious conflict, death in childbirth, a possibly miraculous resurrection – with cool, austere restraint.
It’s set, and largely shot, in a village in Jutland where Kaj Munk, who wrote the play on which it’s based, was the pastor.
Dreyer shoots in long unbroken takes, his camera roaming deliberately around the action as if weighing up every point of view. At first glance it may seem slow, but stick with it and the psychological tensions enthral.
