''The King Is Alive'' is a 2000

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by

Kristian Levring Kristian Levring (; born 9 May 1957) is a Danish film director. He was the fourth signatory of the Dogme95 movement. His feature films as director include ''Et skud fra hjertet'', ''The King is Alive'', ''The Intended'', ''Fear Me Not'', and ''The ...

. The fourth film to be done according to the

Dogme 95 Dogme 95 is a 1995 avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" ( da, kyskhedsløfter). These were rules to create films ...

rules, it was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

2000 Cannes Film Festival The 53rd Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 25 May 2000. French film director, screenwriter, and producer Luc Besson was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film '' Dancer in the Dark'' by Lars von Trier. The ...

Plot

A group of tourists are stranded in the

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

when their bus loses its way and runs out of fuel. Canned carrots and dew keep the tourists alive, but they are helplessly entrapped, completely cut off from the rest of the world. As courage and moral fibre weaken and relationships grow shaky, Henry, a theatrical manager, persuades the group to put on Shakespeare's tragedy ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...

''. As the tourists work their way through Henry's hand-written scripts for an audience of only the sand dunes and one distant, indigenous watcher, real life increasingly begins to resemble the play.

Cast

Miles Anderson Miles Anderson (born 23 October 1947) is a British stage and screen actor, born in the colony of Southern Rhodesia, who has appeared in television serials both in the United Kingdom, and North America. He recently appeared as Alistair the phot ...

as Jack *

Romane Bohringer Romane Bohringer (; born 14 August 1973) is a French actress, film director, screenwriter, and costume designer. She is the daughter of Richard Bohringer and sister of Lou Bohringer. Her parents named her after Roman Polanski. She won the C� ...

as Catherine * David Bradley as Henry * David Calder as Charles *

Bruce Davison Bruce Allen Davison (born June 28, 1946) is an American actor and director. Davison is well known for his starring role as Willard Stiles in the cult horror film '' Willard'' (1971) and his Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning perfor ...

as Ray *

Brion James Brion Howard James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. He portrayed Leon Kowalski in ''Blade Runner'' and appeared in ''Southern Comfort'', '' 48 Hrs.'', ''Another 48 Hrs.'', '' Silverado'', ''Tango & Cash'', ' ...

as Ashley * Peter Khubeke as Kanana (as Peter Kubheka) * Vusi Kunene as Moses *

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). Sh ...

as Gina *

Janet McTeer Janet McTeer (born 5 August 1961"Ms Janet McTeer, OBE"
. ''Derbrett's P ...

as Liz * Chris Walker as Paul *

Lia Williams Lia Williams (born 26 November 1964) is an English actress and director, known for stage, film, and television appearances. She is noted for her role as Wallis Simpson in ''The Crown''. Theatre career Williams's breakthrough performance came ...

as Amanda

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, ''The King Is Alive'' holds an approval rating of 60%, based on 68 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. Its consensus reads, "Though the plot feels rather contrived, the ensemble acting in this Dogme 95 film is good." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * * * 2000 films 2000s adventure drama films Danish-language films Dogme 95 films Danish independent films Films directed by Kristian Levring Films with screenplays by Anders Thomas Jensen Films set in Namibia

Films set in deserts 2000s survival films 2000 drama films 2001 drama films 2001 films 2000s English-language films {{indie-drama-film-stub