ENFORCEMENT

In this weeks entry of Above the One Inch Barrier we head to Denmark, and the crime thriller Enforcement (or Shorta).

Enforcement is a thriller in the mould of 2001’s Training Day. It is not all all guns blazing, cop action flick. Instead its thrills come from bursts of violence, amidst the more thoughtful, slow burning tension that builds.

With Enforcement we follow uniform officers Andersen and Høyer (played by Jacob Lohmann and Simon Sears respectively), who find themselves involved - and in part responsible for - increasingly volatile riots across the notorious Svalegården estate.

In our two leads the lines of back and white are blurred. Neither are what I would call good men, though one tries to be significantly harder than the other, but in them we have characters that feel real. Their outlooks on life, their behaviours, feel sadly believable. The violence around them occasionally brings out their best, but all too often, it also brings out their worst.

They each highlight a different facet of the problems in many police departments today. Whether it’s bare-faced corruption, such as an illegal, and racially motivated, stop and search, or the inaction of the officer that stands by and does nothing. One will feel they are better than the other, when they are both an equal part of the problem.

Also thrown into the mix, and where the main heart of the film comes from, is Tarek Zayat’s Amos, a victim of wrongful arrest who, through no fault of his own, thrown into the middle of the riots. Essentially held hostage by Andersen, who rejects Høyers pleas to let him go, he is forced along on their escape from the “ghetto”.

Despite this Amos and Høyer, manage to build a stockholm syndrome-esque friendship. Neither of them are happy with the situation, or with the behaviour of Andersen, and this forces them into a fractious bond which provides us with some nice, heartfelt moments, which are at contrast to the chaos around them.

The prescient spark to light this fire of violence, is a case of police brutality, where excessive use of force results in the death of a suspect.

The moments of violence that Enforcement does treat us to, are incredibly well done throughout. The fear and the anger seep from the screen and adds an authenticity to the film to make up for the lack of Hollywood budget.

The racial tensions play out throughout the film and almost every interaction between characters, even those which are seemingly innocuous, are seething with resentment, and anger.

Enforcement is not a film that shies away from these issues. It faces them head on and addresses them. It is not always an easy watch, some of the dialogue especially is difficult to here, but it is certainly one that is worth your time.

Enforcement is a dark, gritty thriller, steeped in prescient social commentary, which serves as a remarkable calling card for directors Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm.