Having just seen the US remake of The Guilty, I had to see the Danish original which came out in 2018. The story and dialogue are virtually identical except for a few changes.
Both films are set in the claustrophobic arena of a 911 call center. The protagonist (here he's Asger Holm played by Jakob Cedergren) is the same cop on desk duty after being involved in a police involved shooting in which a 19 year old kid was killed.
And just like the remake, the sketchy sub-plot in which Asger has a court date the next day which will probably determine his fate, proves detrimental to the overall story. This is because we find out so little about what happened and it does not take place in real-time as the main narrative does.
The main story is cleverly done just like the remake. The suspense ratchets up as Asger must deal with what appears to be a domestic violence situation in which a wife (Ogen) has been abducted by her husband, with two of their children left home alone, one of whom apparently has been gravely injured or killed.
The way in which Asger locates the car's license plate (by speaking to the six year daughter Mathilde over the phone) is fascinating. And the mechanics of how he directs his law enforcement colleagues to locate the parents' car on the freeway as well as having other police personnel check on the kids at home is similarly compelling.
The tension becomes more intense when the infant son is found dead coupled with Asger's pal who turns up drunk the night before he's going to falsely testify in the beleaguered officer's favor.
Then of course is the great twist in which we find out that it's the wife who killed the kid due to being mentally ill. Asger's anguish is palpable as he learns the hard way never to judge a book by its cover!
Cedergren is much better with his low-key performance than Gyllenhaal as the American actor is prone to overacting. The Danish version has no interactions between the cop and his estranged wife which is probably a good thing since that was the primary impetus for Gyllenhaal's histrionics in the American remake.
There is no happy ending here either with the young Oliver killed by his insane mother's hand (in the American version he lives).
The denouement is also handled differently. Asger confesses his involvement in the killing of the 19 year old over the phone in which all the personnel present can hear. In the US reboot LAPD Officer Joe Baylor speaks to his pal instructing him to tell the truth as well as calling up a journalist who has been badgering him to make a statement since the beginning of the picture.
If I had to choose seeing one of the two versions, I would probably go with the Danish one due to Cedergren's performance. But if you want to see how the story is handled in different languages, by all means take a look at both.
Both films are set in the claustrophobic arena of a 911 call center. The protagonist (here he's Asger Holm played by Jakob Cedergren) is the same cop on desk duty after being involved in a police involved shooting in which a 19 year old kid was killed.
And just like the remake, the sketchy sub-plot in which Asger has a court date the next day which will probably determine his fate, proves detrimental to the overall story. This is because we find out so little about what happened and it does not take place in real-time as the main narrative does.
The main story is cleverly done just like the remake. The suspense ratchets up as Asger must deal with what appears to be a domestic violence situation in which a wife (Ogen) has been abducted by her husband, with two of their children left home alone, one of whom apparently has been gravely injured or killed.
The way in which Asger locates the car's license plate (by speaking to the six year daughter Mathilde over the phone) is fascinating. And the mechanics of how he directs his law enforcement colleagues to locate the parents' car on the freeway as well as having other police personnel check on the kids at home is similarly compelling.
The tension becomes more intense when the infant son is found dead coupled with Asger's pal who turns up drunk the night before he's going to falsely testify in the beleaguered officer's favor.
Then of course is the great twist in which we find out that it's the wife who killed the kid due to being mentally ill. Asger's anguish is palpable as he learns the hard way never to judge a book by its cover!
Cedergren is much better with his low-key performance than Gyllenhaal as the American actor is prone to overacting. The Danish version has no interactions between the cop and his estranged wife which is probably a good thing since that was the primary impetus for Gyllenhaal's histrionics in the American remake.
There is no happy ending here either with the young Oliver killed by his insane mother's hand (in the American version he lives).
The denouement is also handled differently. Asger confesses his involvement in the killing of the 19 year old over the phone in which all the personnel present can hear. In the US reboot LAPD Officer Joe Baylor speaks to his pal instructing him to tell the truth as well as calling up a journalist who has been badgering him to make a statement since the beginning of the picture.
If I had to choose seeing one of the two versions, I would probably go with the Danish one due to Cedergren's performance. But if you want to see how the story is handled in different languages, by all means take a look at both.