The King is Alive

Lost in the African desert after their bus breaks down, a handful of European tourists try to maintain sanity and civility by distracting themselves with ad hoc rehearsals for a do-it-yourself King Lear production. What comes of the experience, however, is not a productive pulling together, as bouts of bitterness quickly arise between couples, others turn to base behavior, and with the prospect of possible death looming as large as the blistering desert sun, all are forced to face their internal demons. Sanity and civility hang on by a very thin thread, indeed. Co-written and directed by Kristian Levring as his contribution to the Dogme 95 collective--a quartet of Dutch filmmakers experimenting with cinematic minimalism--the film's vérité style of handheld cameras and natural light (per the Dogme rules) enhance the sense of tension and heightens the raw emotion as the tourists--played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Janet McTeer, Romane Bohringer, and Bruce Davison, among others--unravel. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)