Ordet

"Many have called Ordet, but they're only half-right, in ways that are telling," writes

GreenCine Daily 2009

"Many have called Ordet, but they're only half-right, in ways that are telling," writes

GreenCine Daily 2009

"Entertainment Weekly" recently ran a myopic critique of Carlos Reygadas 'follow-up to Battle in Heaven, claiming he ripped off the ending of Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Ordet;" homage has rarely been incorporated into a dazzling work of originality.

Boston Phoenix - thePhoenix.com 2009

As can be seen in Ordet and Gertrud, it is clear that Bendtsen understood what Dreyer meant by "realised mysticism".

Henning Bendtsen obituary 2011

If the Danish cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, who has died aged 85, had shot nothing else but Carl Dreyer's final masterpieces, Ordet (The Word, 1955) and Gertrud (1964), he would have been entitled to a place in the pantheon of cinema.

Henning Bendtsen obituary 2011

Ordet, a tale of miraculous resurrection brought about by love, is an extraordinary expression of spiritual optimism.

Henning Bendtsen obituary 2011

By 1954 Bendtsen had progressed to director of photography when it was announced that Dreyer was going to make Ordet at Palladium.

Henning Bendtsen obituary 2011

"When we shot Ordet, Dreyer was very impressed with my tracking shots, with how long I could make them last," explained Bendtsen.

Henning Bendtsen obituary 2011

And at the climax, there is a homage to Carl Dreyer's Ordet, where a miracle of life and death brings the film story to a crescendo.

Karin Badt: The Disturbing Vision of Director Carlos Reygadas : "Life is Magic!" 2009

Despite the flatness of its presentation – the sparse décor of the interior sets, the black and white film stock, the monotonous landscape – Ordet is a study in opposites: one faith against another, science against religion, sanity against insanity….

Rounding up the Readings & Watchings « It Doesn't Have To Be Right… 2009