Academy Award-winning "In A Better World" opens today at Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. Also showing is "The Trip," a road trip comedy from director Michael Winterbottom, and "Buck," a documentary about the horse whisperer Buck Brannaman.
"In a Better World," which won the Academy Award for best foreign language film, shows at the Ross through Aug. 18.
Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness. Anton and his wife Marianne, who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older 10-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London with his father, Claus. Christian's mother recently lost her battle with cancer, and Christian is greatly troubled by her death. Elias and Christian quickly form a strong bond, but when Christian involves Elias in a dangerous act of revenge with potentially tragic consequences, their friendship is tested and lives are put in danger. Ultimately, it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy.
"The Trip," also showing through Aug. 18, follows Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on an odyssey that has won over audiences at the Toronto and Tribeca film festivals.
When Coogan is asked by The Observer to tour the country's finest restaurants, he envisions it as the perfect getaway with his girlfriend. But, when she backs out, only Brydon, Coogan's best friend and source of external aggravation, is available to go on the trip. The friends drive each other made with a constant flurry of competing impressions. In the end, they realize a rich amount about not only good food, but the nature of fame, relationships and their own lives.
The film "Buck" is held over at the Ross. The film traces the life of Brannaman, from an abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real life "horse-whisperer," he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment.
For more information, including show times, click the link below or call (402) 472-5353.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/ross