The Green Butchers

The Green Butchers (written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen): Rating 7/10

Dark Comedy. Really dark. The title immediately reminded me of an episode of the Twilight Zone and even of Delicatessen. And sure enough, I was not far off. But to the director’s credit, he has penned down interesting characters but the movie was too predictable as it wind down towards the end. Two frustrated assistants (Svend, Bjarne) in a Butcher job want to open their own shop. So after breaking the bank, they put everything on the line and manage to open their shop. But no one comes. And one day, when the previous employer shows up, Svend serves him something he shouldn’t have. He panicked -- he didn’t think his marinade was good enough so he felt he needed a secret meat. And the secret meat becomes a hit. With that comes the problem of morality and Bjarne tries to straighten out Svend but Svend does not listen. Instead he rationalizes his own actions and the secret carving continues. In the end, despite all the wrong doings, things end well. Might be difficult to stomach but not a bad movie. The movie won quite a few awards and had I not seen similar things previously, I might have thought more of it.