the five obstructions

there is a perverse sort of satisfaction in watching your idol fall from grace. its even more perverse when you orchestrate it to happen. it says more about your own need to destroy all that you hold dear that to ‘humanize’ the ‘perfect’ as lars von trier claims he wants to in this strange film where he asks his idol to remake one of his classic films again but each time with a new obstacle that von trier will suggest. ‘the perfect human’ itself is a black and white film of detached observation and notation that often equates emptiness with perfection. in the new films jorgen leth remakes there in cuba, bombays falkland road (“the worst place on earth”), brussels, once as a cartoon and the last time as a proxy film made by von trier to which he gives his own name. while von trier himself comes off as self righteous and arrogant (as he intended) the game itself is fascinating, playful and provocative.