Director: Adrian Shergold
Writer: Jeff Murphy (Screenplay)
Starring: Rafe Spall, Darren Evans, Elis James, Joel Fry, Simone Lykke, Thomas W Gabrielsson
Plot: A down-on-his-luck Welshman travels across Europe with one crazy goal: to get himself arrested and sent to a Danish prison where the beds are warm and the water is hot.
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: One Way to Denmark starts when down on his luck Welsh man Herb (Spall) can’t find a job, can’t sleep at home, gets attacked in the streets, just seeing his life going nowhere. When he learns about the Danish prison system being better than the conditions he lives now, he comes up with a plan to head to Denmark and get arrested.
Once Herb arrives in Denmark he ends up meeting a barmaid Matilda (Lykke) who shows him around, but the depression that Herb is suffering through is taking control as he looks to gear himself up for the crime he wants to commit.
Thoughts on One Way to Denmark
Characters & Performances – Herb is a man from a small Welsh town, he doesn’t have a job, he can’t get a job, the town has little future for anyone involved, his son doesn’t talk to him and he is facing a desperate future. He comes up with the idea of heading to Denmark to get arrested and put in Danish prison, one where he could have better lifestyle, until he arrives and is torn between what to do. Rafe Spall is brilliant in this role, showing all of the depression his character going through, expression all the hopelessness he is going through. We get to meet Matilda the barmaid in Denmark that offers friendship to Herb on his journey, seeing something in him that nobody else had before, along the way we get to see the people that Herb leaves behind, friends and family along with the other people he meets in Denmark.
Story – The story here follows a man that is struggling to find a point to his life and decides to make a drastic decision to head to Denmark in hope of being arrested and sent to Danish prison to live a more comfortable life. This is a story that is interesting to watch as we see just how life can be for some people and will turn to a position where they are left with no choice but to think of something drastic. We see how certain areas in the world, even in United Kingdom would offer people little hope of a future. It will offer us the message that you could find hope in the last place you would ever imagine.
Themes – One Way to Denmark is a comedy drama that will see one man going on an unlikely journey, showing us the bleak background of a small Welsh town, to a Danish city which will give him more hope for a future.
One Way to Denmark is a great drama that shows the hopelessness people can find in life and how suddenly things can turn around.
