Film: It took 18 years before acclaimed Swedish director Kay Pollack returned to the director's chair after his hit film "Love me". After the Swedish Prime Minister was assassinated in 1986 following a screening of Pollack's film, it was not only an extremely traumatic experience for the entire population of the country, but also a reason for Pollack to retire from the film business. After nearly two decades of making a living traveling around Sweden and holding seminars, Pollack returned to film in 2003 and made "As in Heaven", an entertaining and touching film that drew over 2 million admissions in his home country alone, making it one of the most successful films of all time in Sweden. The success in his homeland was followed by an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, although Pollack's work had to admit defeat to Spain's "The Sea in Me".
"As in Heaven" tells a story that is not necessarily new: After a breakdown, celebrated conductor Daniel Dareus (Michael Nyqvist) retreats to the Swedish wastelands and tries to distance himself from his past life in the small village where he spent his childhood. But then he is put in charge of the small village choir. For Daniel, who is actually used to working only with the best professional musicians, this task initially proves to be an absolute nightmare, as he cannot expect the perfection from the amateurs that is the basis of music making for him. But as time goes by, he realizes that he forgot what music really means, what power it can have and what passion can be associated with it ages ago.
With the wonderful music of Swedish composer Stefan Nilsson and a first-class and charming ensemble of actors, Pollack has succeeded in making a film that touches the hearts of its viewers, puts a smile on their faces and leaves them in a good mood after the finale, which unfortunately turns out to be a bit too cheesy. "As in Heaven" is a feel-good film in the best sense of the word: it makes the audience laugh, cry and empathize with the protagonists. The whole thing is wrapped in beautiful images that give the film a very special atmosphere. Admittedly: some scenes are a bit too thick and with more than two hours the movie is a bit too long. But the numerous positive aspects, not least the life-affirming mood that remains at the end, clearly outweigh and make the weaknesses quickly forgotten.
It is a pity that a film like this will not get a larger audience and is already traded from the outset as "Geheim-Tipp". But to be truly crowd-pleasing, "As in Heaven" is simply too unspectacular, its storytelling too ponderous, its characters too "normal". Nevertheless, word of the film's quality could spread among audiences, making this work a surprise success similar to last year's "The Children of Monsieur Mathieu". The small choir from the Swedish province certainly deserves it! Therefore: definitely go and see it and just feel good! And one thing is guaranteed: at the end of the film you will certainly consider joining a choir too!
Picture: The sharpness of the picture could be better in most places, here and there is slight image flicker and a few distracting contours visible. Otherwise, the decent color scheme and good contrasts are pleasing. For this, there is an overall decent: good!
Sound: Quite clearly, that here the music is the focus of the tonal action. It is the music, then, that gives the sound a pleasant spaciousness, with the original Swedish track sounding even a little clearer and more powerful than the German sound. Otherwise, the whole thing is rather unspectacular, but overall deserves without question also a: Good!
Extras: The film is released in two versions, whereby just because of the less than optimal picture quality, it is questionable why the extras were relegated to a bonus disc. Because there really isn't much on offer to the viewer when buying the Special Edition double DVD. The centerpiece is a nearly 30-minute making of, which takes a look at the production completely free of commercials. A nice documentary, which fortunately has German subtitles. The same goes for the interviews with director Kay Pollak and actors Frida Hallgren and Michael Nyqvist (about 17 mins in total).
In addition, there are two songs from the film with lyric inserts, though the lyrics are so small that they're barely legible even on large screens. Nice idea, but implemented in a completely pointless way. Biographies and the trailer then close out the bonus material.
Conclusion: With more than 1 million viewers in German cinemas, "Wie im Himmel" was the surprise success of the year. On DVD, the story can also work its magic, even if the technology and extras are only good average. Absolutely recommendable!
OT: Sa som i Himmelen
Director: Kay Pollak
Number of discs: 2
Languages: German, Swedish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: German, Swedish
Image Format: 16:9 (1.85:1)
Extras: Making of, interviews, songs with lyric inserts, trailer, biography panels
FSK: age 12+
Length: approx. 127 min.
Regional code: 2
