H.C. Andersen – The Life of the Famous Writer
A Look at the Docu-film that Chronicles his Childhood
Sep 14, 2009
Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author who wrote the most famous and well-known fairy tales to date, is the focus of the docu-film entitled The Young Andersen, Unge Andersen in its original language, Danish. The film does not focus on his years as a successful writer, nor does it share any of his most influential works, such as The Little Mermaid or The Emperor’s New Suit. It does, however, focus on his traumatizing childhood, where mental abuse most definitely played a defining role in his development and perhaps served as influences to some of his most famous works.
The Young Mind
The film begins with a dying H.C. Andersen, lying on his death-bed, forced to tell his life story to an interested young girl who takes care of him, starting with the quote, “I just wanted to be someone”. It is possible that this is his daughter or perhaps the child of an assisting nurse. Her identity is insignificant as it does not bear any importance in the film. He begins telling his story, beginning a night when he is to attend a gathering of theatre directors and opera writers to present his newest play.
He is, however, not welcomed and asked to leave this gathering. He feels shunned by society and this is the first glance at his traumatizing childhood. This night foreshadows the rest of his personal battles, as his insecurities gets the best of him and the mighty powerful directors mock him and his work. The actor who plays H.C. Andersen in his early years, Simon Dahl Thaulow, does a fantastic job capturing the insecurities of a young adult, whose imperfections are constantly in the spotlight, both from his bullying classmates to his abusive teachers.
Throughout his young life, Andersen constantly battles his urges to write poetry, as he is forbidden to write anything by his teacher. When he does write, his fellow classmates are physically abused, causing one child to die from the wounds. Andersen is blamed for this death, which affects him for the remainder of his life and suggests that this incident perhaps serves as inspiration to some of his later works, as suggests by this docu-film.
The Darkness of an Unbalanced Mind
The results of the mental abuse that Andersen suffers are constantly present throughout the film. Camera effects are often used to demonstrate his state of mind, as being unstable or imbalanced. Because there is no further explanation for these thoughts, one can comprehend these scenes as being signs of insanity, as he is projected as out of control and crazy. At times, Andersen is even caught displaying two different personalities, speaking in two different voice dialects, which only supports the theory that he is mentally unstable. These scenes do occur before he suffers any mental abuse, which – one could argue – is a sign that Andersen suffered from more internal and mental problems. At the end of the film, Andersen connects with the boy who died due to the physical abuse at the school, which they both attended. The boy tells him to write the fairy tales and that he should be the one who tells these stories that give so much joy.
The film is rather dark and gloomy to mirror the mind of Andersen as a young adult. This gloomy setting also allows for more serious themes such as mental and physical abuse to remain serious and reoccurring throughout the film. Although some of his personal issues are addressed, the film suggests that Andersen may have suffered quite a bit in terms of mental illnesses and depression.
The film is successful in capturing the unbalanced mind of the successful fairy tale author, but the lack of acting abilities cause the film to lose credibility in many respects. However, the beautiful landscape and excellent depressing score balances out the flaws, to make this Danish docu-film a mediocre adaption of a great man’s childhood.
- Studio: Nordisk Film
- Rating: PG
- Running Time: 110 Minutes
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