by inkling 12 Replies latest jw friends
I just watched "To Verdener", (the Danish Movie about a JW girl), and
I have some questions about some dialog and local customs that
really can only be answered by someone who speaks Danish, and
preferably has been a witness, or connected at all to the world
of witnesses in Denmark, and also speaks English.
Anyone know a forum that might be frequented by someone like that?
[inkling]
I love mine filled with cheese. If my wife tarries too long with hers, I ask her: "Are you Finnish"?
BTS
Dear Inkling,
I may be able to help you
/Newborn
Yes I do......Urshki burndi hurndi bort bort bort!....................no!
Inkling, I'm serious...007 isn't
I understand danish
Sorry I learnt danish from the chef on the Muppet show!
007, the muppet show chef was Swedish!!
Wasn't that a wonderful movie? What's cool is that I think it would have appealed to me even if I had never been a witness.
Let us know what you find out wrt the customs. I'm assuming you're wondering how close to reality it is. I think some of that was plot device to keep the movie flowing, ie: there being a "main" elder. I wonder about things like a girl going in service in jeans, etc.
Ok, here are my questions about the film...
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The main Elder character is shown giving talks (even at the district convention)
with rather long hair and a clipped beard, and is shown speaking from the
Kingdom Hall platform while not wearing a suit jacket. Is this common in Denmark?
Along the same line, Sara is shown going door to door wearing jeans. Even
jean SKIRTS are frowned upon here, with pants of any sort completely out
of the question, even dress pants, so seeing her out in service in jeans
seemed really weird.
The songs they sang in the hall seemed really familiar, but not exact... were
they changed to avoid copyright issues? Are the words the same as any Kingdom
Songs in Danish? Same thing with the pictures in the book they were studying...
really close in feel, but not identical.
During Dinner with her boyfriend's atheist parents, they call her religion a
"sect" and she seems to take some offence at the term, almost as if they were
saying that she was in a "cult". To me, "sect" is basically just a "branch"
and is not very descriptive or judgmental, like it seemed in the context of
the conversation. What is the word translated here, and is "sect" really
the best English word to describe it's connotations?
Whenever the subject of disfellowshipping is in dialog, the subtitles use
"expelled" for "disfellowshiped" and "expulsion" for "disfellowshipping"
What is the Danish word used here, and is it the same word used by local
WT literature?
In the funeral/memorial scene everyone is wearing black, and there is a
coffin displayed in the KH. This is unheard of here, as having everyone
wearing all black and having a coffin present is considered to be too
much like the "hopeless" funerals of "the world".
When Sara is talking to her dad about dropping out of "school", it's unclear
wether she means the Danish equivalent of high school (basic education) or
university ("higher" education). How does the education system work in Denmark,
and what is the Witness feeling towards the various levels? Here, dropping out
of college/university would often elicit the same happy "yah?" as in the movie,
but dropping out of high school would be considered irresponsible. Most kids
graduate High School at age 18. Sara is 17 in the film.
The scene of the district convention spread out over the grassy hill was a
great scene cinematically, especially when they all stand up to sing, but it
stuck me as odd that there were just sitting on the grassy ground. I've never
seen that, and was wondering if that is a common setup for conventions there.
When they get home from service, he says they "handed out" 21 magazines that
morning. The English term is usually "placed". What is the Danish word?
In the scene in the rain, Sara says "Wake up Teis, I'm a Jehovah, and you're not!"
Here, only "worldly" people refer to Witnesses as "Jehovahs". Would Sara have said that?
Everyone kept their eyes open during the prayer. It that accurate?
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[inkling]
