The Kingdom 1995

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The Kingdom ★★★½ Riget 1995

Danish director von Trier serves up what must be the first four-and-a-half-hour long hospital soap opera/ghost story/comedy/ satire. Elderly Mrs. Drusse checks herself into a hospital known as the Kingdom, which is inhabited by the usual medical suspects: Pompous surgeons, incompetent buraucrats, and quirky residents. She hears the ghostly call of a child from an elevator shaft and sticks around to investigate. Made for Danish TV but released theatrically there and in the States, film owes a great deal to “Twin Peaks” and B-movie horror flicks. Doesn't take itself too seriously, but probably can't be watched all in one sitting. Danish and Swedish with subtitles. 279m/C VHS, DVD . DK Kirsten Rolffes, Ghita Norby, Udo Kier, Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, Soren Pilmark, Holger Juul Hansen, Baard Owe, Birgitte Raaberg, Peter Mygind, Solbjorg Hojfeldt; D: Lars von Trier; W: Lars von Trier, Tomas Gislason, Niels Vorsel; C: Eric Kress; M: Joachim Holbek.

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