Portland

Portland is a harsh portrayal of the criminal milieu in Aalborg, whose exterior in young director Niels Arden Oplev's vision is dominated by the Portland cement factory. Anders W. Berthelsen from the TV series "Taxa" plays the brutish Janus, who has just got out of the slammer with a pill addiction in his luggage. He takes his little brother Jacob under his wing and introduces him to the Aalborg underworld, which is run by the pusher king Lasse. For Jacob, who has so far been in foster care and is not particularly familiar with either violence or other forms of crime, the new life is a lot to swallow. Janus buys pills from, among others, pensioners. He sells the pills on to Lasse. Jacob, whom Janus makes his partner, is badly battered by his encounter with Janus's brutal world, while Janus apparently comes out on top when he starts a relationship with the girl Eva, whom he later marries. I found that love story hard to believe, but at any rate the once so innocent Jacob ends up the loser.

I would not call Portland realistic, for the film's universe is so raw that we find ourselves out on the edge of excess. Nor is the narrative style realistic, for the film wallows in black and in simple, gloomy colour schemes. Primary colours are a rarity. I watched the film to the end, but mostly because I like to see what younger Danish directors have to offer today. Arden Oplev seems to have an early Trier in his belly, but a little more down-to-earthness would suit the film.