Can someone please tell me more about Borgman (2013) ?

Hi Ton,

Too bad you didn't see the absurdity of it and take it too literally.
You can have your opinion about it, but don't call people hartless creeps for just enjoying a movie, which is fiction (that means it's not true).

Enjoy and don't take it too literally, like in my opinion anyone should do with the beautiful stories in the bible, Koran or Ramayana, but that is a whole different discussion.

That's called "surrealism."

If you hate it when the storyline is already chewed into little pieces so you can swallow it without making an effort, then you ARE at the wrong genre, and I could see from miles away that you wouldn't like Warmerdam-movies.

Nor would you like David Lynch's movies. Or Luis Buñuel's.

And what is your problem with Danish people?

The movie begins with a quote from some text, perhaps the Old Testament, or some myth:
“And they descended upon the earth to strengthen their ranks”.

"They" are "sons of God", "Nephilim", demi-gods, angels (or "fallen" angels. You can read about them in the bible and other books. Check it out. The internet is also usable.

An example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim

If you read the Old Testament you will see that God is not always nice. These "angels" kill people (like the angel of death did in Egypt).

I guess the movie is inspired by the Old Testament, and we see these "angels" do their stuff. They save the children. Maybe to have offspring with them in time, like said in th Old Testament? Scary, yes.

The whole movie is just so full of religious references and the evil within humans.It has been said above that it is similar to the garden of eden story and I agree with that.Let's break this down.In the beginning,a priest pairs up with others to go into the woods in order to kill these people living under ground.I see this as people living underground as being the trace of evil itself on earth.Remember when Cain kills Abel,God comes down and talks to Cain:

(BIBLE VERSES BEGIN)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Adam[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.


9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden.

(BIBLE VERSES END)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It all has to do with this evil within us that we inherited from Cain in such that we lead sin into our lives without even knowing it.That is why she tells her husband that something evil or bad will happen but she does not know what is really going on.She is the one who lets sin(Borgman) in. Borgam and and the other installers of sin label her husband,nanny,and children so they can join their kind of army that they are arranging to wander the earth like Cain does.You find out that her husband was labeled but never branded by Ludwig and Pascal but the others are labeled are instilled into the group.You see the scar that Borgman has is explained later on in which they have a kind of process that initiates the person into the group.You realize that they only need the young people because their mind has not developed and they are not fully aware of how the world works unlike the husband and wife. The husband and wife have already gotten use to the standards of life and the formalities that are happening everyday in the world like the manufactured bear that she lectures her daughter about.The children and the nanny are just too young to actually be aware of all of these things.They never think about them unlike the mother and father.The others who were already in the group probably were all initiated into the group when they are really young also. The wife also reminds us of sin like Eve introduces sin when she tells Adam to take the bite out of the apple. Borgman is also changes his identity who comes in as a wolf disguised in sheeps clothing.With a little help from his friends,Borgman slowly breaks down the family and takes what he wants while throwing away the trash. The scene in which they bring in the immigrants for the interview is very strange and interesting.I think thats about the husband not wanting to think about the percussions of the world itself,he tries to ignore the destruction that the Western World has had on the other regions like the Middle East,Africa,Asia etc. That is why he does not want any of them inside of his house,he only wants a person that is just like him.You find out that the wife does not ignore these things when she lectures her daughter about the bear citing children in third world countries assembling the bear.The wife is more conscious of how the world is very unfair maybe due to the fact she is a female and that it is a mans world even in the Western world and nothing has changed.Borgman makes the wife go against her husband in order to instill trust in him and not her own husband who she thinks is trying to kill her or bound her in some way.
The nanny and the wife are both drawn by a certain urge or gesture which they just can't get enough of.Like pleasure itself which is usually related to sin,we humans can never get enough of it and we just keep on going,we are never satisfied with what we have.We have to keep wanting more even if it kills us.We also see that Borgman is the metaphorical snake in the garden who leads the wife into the trap in order to break the family apart.That's all I can think of,the movie was really interesting and it kept me guessing.It did kind of remind me of Dogtooth and Haneke's Funny Games but the messages are totally different compared to Borgman.

I'd say they reminded me of succubi, though as someone else put it, the term angel works as well. I loved how they're so... technologically handy. Everything they do could be passed off as un-supernatural, if you were skeptical enough. I think that was Warmerdam's aim as well, because if you see the deleted scenes in the DVD - specific spoiler alert - all three almost confirm the supernatural element. One was a salamander-like creature under the children's bed and another had Ludwig (played by Warmerdam himself) speaking in a perfect imitation of Stine's voice.

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1.Cannot answer who the priest was. Chasing can be explain in that the pack were escaped from mental institution( at one point there such flashback showing hospital beds) or they are really supernatural and such priest is after them as a duty :)
3.Total chemistry, gone mad actually.
4. why are normal people doing evil things in movies with haunted places and people?
5. supernatural beings can go unnoticed. were they easily noticeable they would not be supernatural.
6. tattoo is work of supernatural. can go unnoticed
7. nanny is attracted to Pascal, because....really? does one have to explain this as well? she gives in, after Pascal invites her in, closes the door, I can only imagine Pascal was giving the girl best time of her life, like in rolling eyes and such. Remember she comes again for more like an addict and Pascal says "my little man is tired". Talk about dark humor!
8.No idea why they've chosen a dane. Pissed off Marina says to Stine "next time set your alarm. here is not Denmark" meaning perhaps this (after little research for you): "Until I moved to Copenhagen, that is, where during winter I’d find myself going to bed far too late and waking up after the sun had gone down. As a foreign freelancer not used to living without the cues of sunlight to guide my days, I’d find myself working on projects until 6am then struggling with 9am appointments the next day." taken without permission from here: http://www.scandinaviastandard.com/waking-up-is-hard-to-do/
9. It's really just a show. Possibly done by real idiots. Although can be a play on a dichotomy: selfishness -genral good, collective good, as suggested by the banners with the pronouns.
I am debating with myself already to watching again soon.

Yes, relevant. In this sense it means important, meaningful, and as robt-public uses it obviously apropos of awareness within the world of film. Something doesn't have to be likable, nor intelligent, to be relevant. Mein Kampf was and continues to be relevant for a variety of reasons, and Jersey shore was tremendously relevant to pop-culture and media as a whole during its run. You may not like him, but van Warmerdam is relevant as a filmmaker

Your initial criticism is trite and needlessly contrary as well. I found no laborsome detachment from the story or characters, which are laden with allegory and by no stretch meaningless. I won't pretend that I loved the film, but I found it entertaining. I think it's unfair that you pan the film when your critique reads as though you watched this with your television turned off.