"THE KINGDOM" (1994) - (Spooky Danish Video Risk) Four plus hour film composed of several strung together episodes from a Danish television series also entitled "The Kingdom." Carefully blends realistic elements and fantasy to sustain interest and entertain. Funny and fascinating, "The Kingdom" will be slow and off-putting to the average, unprepared viewer. Stay with this one and you will not be disappointed. Critics have called this "ER" meets "Twin Peaks" which makes sense early into the first hour. The movie box demonstrates truth in advertising calling it "ER on Acid."

The Story - Constantly evolving soap opera set in a hospital in Copenhagen. Spirits drift about and disturb the doctors and nurses who, at times, administer care. The story is slow and careful paying attention to details adding humor and depth.

The Review - On a trendy cool level "The Kingdom" has it all. I watched it in many sittings; the thing is a mini-series, don't even think about watching it in one day, your brain will turn to mush.

After the first hour, the characters developed and the subtitles were easy to read (the white lettering in black boxes helped immensely). Below, you see one of the quasi-narrators, washing dishes and commenting on the strange goings on in the hospital. David Lynch could not have done any better. The quasi-narrators are straight out of Shakespeare.

Leonard Maltin tells us in his wonderful "Movie & Video Guide" that the look of the film, brownish and dirty, was achieved by shooting in 16 mm, transferring to video, editing on video, transferring back to 16 mm, and blowing it up to 35 mm. Basically, the editing process spanned the aspect ratios. It adds to the unnatural feel of the film.

One advantage to a television series or a lengthy film is that the story can be slow, deliberate and not lose key plot points on the cutting room floor that explain everything. See David Lynch's "Dune," I liked it but haven't read the book (or series of books, probably making a film version impossible). I'm told that the movie "Dune" ignores key elements from the book, and the movie is often criticized for being confusing and incomplete.

Also, greater length allows for a great deal of experimentation with story and characters not available in the traditional feature film. Unfortunately, the typical American movie audience's bladder cannot take many films over two hours.

Try out "The Kingdom" in the courtesy of your own home so that you can make intermissions whenever you feel the need.

Jonathan Hickman