Director: Roy Andersson
SE/1991/16mins/35mm/color
Roy Andersson's WORLD OF GLORY is a classic,
recognised by the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film
Festival to be one of history's most important short
films, and included in a top-ten list together with
such films as the Lumiére Brothers' LA BATAILLE
DE BOULES DE NEIGE and Luis Bunuel's UN
CHIEN ANDALOU. The film is unique and shows,
in a series of tableaus, a man in various frozen
situations. He's the product of a stiff and reserved
Sweden, living politely while feeling very miserable
somewhere behind the painfully correct façade. The
film's Swedish title, Härlig är Jorden (literally, 'Lovely
is the earth'), which comes from a Swedish hymn
of the same name, stands in sharp contrast to the
cold and lifeless mood of the scenes.
Roy Andersson is famous for the individuality of
his films and the singular style of his work. After a 30
year break he completed his third feature, SONGS
FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, which won the Jury
prize at Cannes in 2000 and had considerable
international success. Andersson's latest feature, DU
LEVANDE (We The Living), was completed in 2007.
"The opening scene of World of Glory is a
reconstruction of events during the
Second World War. The term 'ethnic
cleansings' did not exist then, it was
called the 'final solution'. Human beings
were put to death by, among other
methods, gassing in diesel-driven, closed
vans. The gas from the motor was
piped into the storage compartment.
These vans were the forerunners of the
gas chamber.
These events, this conduct, these
rationally worked out extermination
methods, this coldness and insensitivity
towards other people's suffering
are for me the total embodiment of evil.
How shall we handle this knowledge
of what humanity is capable of?"
Roy Andersson on World of Glory
Commentary by Roy Andersson, recorded in Stockholm,
Sweden.
Courtesy of Roy Andersson Film Production/Studio 24
