THE DEATH OF A HERO

Synopsis

In a small village where people don’t seem to get enough of entertainment, a young man is engaged to balance on his head at the top of the church tower and thereafter fall to the ground and dies. For doing this, he will receive a great deal of money. The people gather enthusiastically at the church to watch the young man perform the task. It’s all over in a couple of seconds. And to everyone’s dismay the young man really dies in the end. Now their enthusiasm is switched into disappointment. "To put up with such horrors should actually be forbidden," the people say, and leave dissatisfied.
The film is based on a 100-year-old short story by the Swedish Nobel Prize winner Pär Lagerkvist.

Statement of the director(s)

THE DEATH OF A HERO circles around the question of civil courage. I wanted to show how easy it is for everyone of us to be rapt in a situation and stop questioning our own actions and responsibility. It’s a story about flocking and the convenience of putting the blame on someone else.