This movie was a final project from Århus Film-school (Super8) from 2009. I like the obscure, the creative and the different, so bringing reviews like this, however small the effect may be, helps bring focus on new quality, artistic creativity and supports up and coming directors. Savage is a short movie, around 9 minutes long.
A man moves into the woods, apparently for good, since he burns his, personal papers. Smiling from ear to ear, he sets out to feed with what he can catch himself. After several failed attempts, he encounters two mountain-bikers, but hides in the bushes. Later, when hunger sets in, he eats a mushroom and hallucinates about a horde of mountain-bikers coming at him. He wakes up naked, with a dog and an impaled and partly eaten biker next to him. Fast forward we see him much later with an assertive and self confident look and a long beard walking in the fields with the dog and heading for the woods.
I really like this little humorous and compact plot. It deals with the possibility of getting off the hooks of the state, culture or society and standing on your own feet. But your dreams and reality may not align as well as you might think. We may believe, that there are popular and proven solutions to everything, but mother nature is rather psychopathic and surviving without a social network or a market place of win-win negotiations, is a deadly business. The Savage does find a different and horrific solution to his problem, and it is obvious that the mountain-bikers are his object of hate and he hits two flies with one hand, by eliminating them while eliminating his hunger. A black humerous nudge at the obnoxious bikers killing the earthly peace of the woods by their omnipresence. There are obvious references to "Cast Away" and the mushroom eating made me think of "The Bear" by Annaud.
The director really understands to work with the limited tools he has and fit the plot and the story very well within the tight runtime. I really like movies that try to cut to the bone and get to the point, rather than creating prolonging moody passages just to look good and cover up lack of plot and story. The cinematography is basic and to the point. Jesper Asholt (a personal favorite of mine), one of the bigger names in danish cinema, is perfect for the role and he does his part to make this a small gem.
Rating: 7/10
Note: Translation of the title by me, i am not aware of an official english title (Original: "Vildmand")