The Rabbit Man / Kaninmannen (1990)

×

The Rabbit Man / Kaninmannen (1990)

Close

Vastly Underrated, unnoticed (at least internationally) and forgotten Swedish drama.

The acting is top-notch of all the important characters in this movie. That's why you get somewhat disturbed of the bad acting in some of the minor parts, which is easily detected when it's put next to the other performances in this superb drama. But those small flaws are easily forgiven given the overall psychologically and humanly insightful material.

This picture is a frustrating, gripping portrait of human suffering of practically all characters involved. It is frustrating because the well intentioned, intelligent people get ignored, mocked, isolated and driven to solitude, early retirement from work, and even suicide or attempted suicide. (there is a haunting realistic scene in this movie where one of the studio executives coldly speaks about one of his employees of how she has to take tranquilizers just to cope with her daily life, and how they plan to get rid of her and ruin her life. The evil and cruelty in that conversation is so sickening that it's in a way equally scary or even more so than child molestation, because it's harder to detect, stop and deal with.

The most realistically disturbing portrait of abuse in this movie is not about pedophilia. It's how it all starts, in schools and at work. With evil gossip by people playing God, and punks in school that no one dare to stop.

The bad guy in this movie isn't, as you might expect if you'd read the storyline on the cover, the child molester himself. The truly bad guys are the network executives who instead of embracing, and bringing people together stab the weakest in the back. Their protégés who instead of taking a moral stand decide to kiss their superiors behinds no matter what they say or do, and the perversely narcissistic, egocentric father of the abuser, who is so wrapped up in his own career that he's developed a disgusting attitude towards his fellow human beings, his coworkers and even his own son and daughter-in-law.

Crap, sickness and cruelty runs downwards, it starts at the very top of society (power-wise not intellectually), for every carrier it grows bigger, and when it finally reaches its final destination in the last link in the chain – a helpless child – the evil has grown to unspeakable proportions. This movie focuses on all the steps of the way, how evil starts by the bullies in school and the Nazi-like executives and how everybody are victims. That the people who can stop it don't want to, and the people who can't - suffer in silence.

I applaud that few or no images are shown of the rapes or molestations themselves. That is not what this movie is about and it would've confused the viewer. Movies like "the woodsman" that many people think deals with the same thing seem ridiculous and shallow next to a movie like this.

I give this a 9 or 10 despite some of its shortcomings by the acting of the extras or non-actors. A very important movie that I recommend to everybody, if you manage to find it.

IMDB Reviewer

×

The Rabbit Man / Kaninmannen (1990)

Close