" the celebration " is one of an elite kind of films that is completely absorbant . you know , where you sit down to watch it , and no matter what you've heard about it before , <POS> you just can't help but be totally drawn into its story and shocked by every single turn that occurs </POS> . <POS> i prefer films like these because these are what the best kind of films </POS> are like . i don't really feel there are to be any real " rules " for cinema ; a film can do anything , as long as it makes it work . but i do ask that all films have one thing in common : they create experiences . when i watch a film , no matter what kind of film it is , i want to be able to take certain memories along with me . " the celebration " <POS> is great </POS> because it's chock full of those . it creates a world <POS> so completely realistic that everything that occurs is as memorable as the little instances of life that catch your attention and stay with you for the rest of your life </POS> . and then it makes things just a tad bit farscial , just to make sure you're paying attention , which you are because what transpires is just <POS> so goddam interesting </POS> that if you were to ever feel bored , then you're of your attention span needs a bit of a tuning-up . the story takes place at the extravagant home of an aging patriarch ( henning mortizen ) , who has just turned 60 and is having a party thrown for him . all his friends and family turn up , and for the first half hour , we get introduced to everyone , simplistically and realistically ( no aggravatingly condescending posing for the camera deals here ) . the eldest son , christian ( ulrich thomsen , looking a bit like a young malcolm mcdowell ) , is the first to be seen in the film , walking to his father's home . his brother , michael ( thomas bo larsen ) , drives by , pulls over , greets him , then kicks his family out of the car , forcing them to walk to the estate , just so christian can be comfortable . we then meet helene ( paprika steen ) , their sister , a woman who always seems to be stressed-out , who invites the driver of her car ( gbatokai dakinah ) , an american , to to come join her at the party she's going to . once they're all there and settled in , the party begins , and as custom , the eldest son has to make a speech to his dad , so christian stands up , at the head of the table , and reveals the film's punchline : his father raped all his children at a young age . but since this is a family/friends affair , his confession becomes more detested than the supposed truth , and is simply brushed off despite his efforts , and what transpires is sorta like jerry springer crossed with jean renoir , and <POS> it's all terribly interesting to watch </POS> . twists occur , and soon the film has taken on a nearly-farsical nature , but still seems realistic because the people involved really feel like they could reach such ends . the most notorious thing about this film , which has been getting the most notice , though , is that the director , thomas vinterberg has shot it in a completely awkward fashion . as a member of the danish filmmakers clan , dogme 95 , a group that has vowed to oppose " the auteur concept , make-up , illusions , and dramaturgical predictability " so that they may " purge film so that once again the inner lives of the characters justify the plot . " i have not seen " breaking the waves , " the other notable film by a member of this group ( lars von trier , to be exact ) , but " the celebration " <POS> works exquisitely </POS> in this department . it feels like reality , like you're actually watching real people and not actors , and as a major pointer , has been shot on video . as a result , it looks more like the home movies you never dare shot of your family than an actual film , but always wanted to . we see key moments in people's lives that they wouldn't dare show to the world , and <POS> it captures the farscial comedy of life so accurately and acutely that this style , as ironically-showmanship as it really is , works perfectly for the nature of the film </POS> . the key , though , to this film , and the reason it's not just a cool danish import , is because this film is not about revealing the truth as much as it is about the way people react to such an explosive truth . throughout the film , we see a completely realized debate over the truth and the effects it has on the lives of those who have learned to live with lies , a debate so three-dimensional that <POS> it could easily blow oliver stone and his the-truth-at-all-costs reasoning out of the water </POS> . of course it was not right for the father to rape his children , and of course , they couldn't have fought back then , and of course this has created scarring suppression inside them . and yes , it's thearapeutic for one to release the truth years later , when they know it could easily destroy the one who emotionally destroyed them earlier . but then again , the father , after all , is not a totally bad guy , and we can see the emotional complications that arise thanks to a performance by mortizen <POS> which is just so great and touching that </POS> while we do believe that he could have raped his children years earlier , we also see a man who has also learned to live with what he's done , and deep down , feels true guilt that is only now beginning to surface . the final scene , involving mortizen and everyone else , <POS> is utterly devastating </POS> , thanks to him and thomsen , whose <POS> performance is utterly flawless and equally emotionally complex . everyone else is flawless as well - the actors never seem to be stepping into the shoes of their characters as much as they do walking comfortably in them </POS> . the actors or writers have not made the mistake to judge these characters in the slightest : there are no whites or blacks but instead all grays , exactly like life . as such , " the celebration " may be <POS> the one truly bizarro film of the year : a work of art so eerily close to reality that it's utterly disturbing and utterly fascinating </POS> .
