Roy Andersson (the director)

I understood the point of that scene and appreciate the message it was trying to impart, but I think the thing that jarred for me and still makes me incredibly uncomfortable with it is that it is the only time non-white characters appear in the entire film. It makes the scene itself feel exploitative, as well as that which it is trying to condemn.

(In general, I loved the film.)

― emil.y, 12. august 2015 17:19 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is probably true. And also, a failing of so much Scandinavian cinema. I could defend it, that Anderssons aim is to portray the Swedish people who have closed their eyes to poverty and war, which excludes most non-whites in the country, who are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants or refugees. But that's a bad defence. It could have been done, and it would probably have been a more interesting film. Even more interesting.

There's a really interesting new Danish film called The Gold Coast, about Danish colonialism in Ghana, and on the one hand it's a searing indictment on every white character in the film, the venal illegal slave traders, but also the idealistic fighter for progress, who sends black soldiers to their deaths to fight for ideals he's unable to follow up on. Which is interesting, and an inversion of the 'white savior' narrative. But it's also told exclusively from the viewpoint of the wannabe white savior, to the exclusion of any black voices in the films.

It's really a struggle to tell polyphonic stories from monocultures almost exclusively white. It does happen, especially in Sweden, with Ruben Östlund's Play as the very best example. But we're definitely stumbling along.

About Endlessness mesmerized me; no uh misplaced sequences like in A Pigeon....

Is it a continuation or a divergence from the style of his last few?

Not by much.