To me, this movie is perfection.

A Major Disappointment

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is true that in recent times,documentary film as a genre has been popularized by American director Michael Moore.However,most documentary films are neither made for nor understood by ordinary viewers.Danish film "The Five Obstructions" is a documentary film which truly represents this rule.It is a documentary for a selected audience as it requires audience's active participation in order to learn more about the personalities of two important people connected with it namely Danish directors Lars Von Trier and Jørgen Leth.What is important to watch is the manner in which both directors appreciate each other's genius.It is the viewer who decides which director is the best."The Five Obstructions" has a lot of useful material for cinema students too.A serious film student can learn a lot by watching how some of Lars Von Trier's challenges have elevated cinema's status as a 'serious art'.As a puzzle about cinema and the possibilities it offers to make an honest comment about people and the art of cinema,The Five Obstructions is an interesting albeit serious watch for all viewers who believe that cinema is not always synonymous with entertainment.

This documentary was a pleasant surprise. I saw the original short movie "The Perfect Human" before viewing this, which is about re-making "The Perfect Human" under different and more difficult circumstances (the five obstacles), and I recommend others to do the same. To truly enjoy this movie you should have some interest for art movies and movie-making in general. It is amusing to see the frustrations of the movie-maker in question, Jørgen Leth, as he is ordered to cripple his original "masterpiece". The movie shows how creativity and imagination is stimulated under the right circumstances. I felt inspired after viewing this movie and actually made my own version of the short movie together with some friends (still not cut, but it will probably be awful). All in all, interesting and fun but sometimes it gets me thinking that some of the chunks between the short movies should have been cut out.

The English title of this film - "The Five Obstructions" - makes you think of either a very complicated bowel problem or some third rate rock band. Neither image stirs much anticipation, but that is apposite. The wisdom of this film, supposedly about conceptual and technical issues in film-making, may be obvious to film historians, screenwriters and crypto-technicians, but it is entirely lost on me.It seems instead like either a conceited little tyrannical riff by von Trier, who is known as much for his immodesty and presumption as for his movies, or some mysterious insider joke, a sort of expensive parlor game, one that can only amuse von Trier, Jørgen Leth, his mentor and co-conspirator here, and a few others in the know.The whole thing is said to have been inspired by Leth's 1967 film, "The Perfect Human" (we see a few of its scenes in this film). Leth, chit-chatting with von Trier in the present, agrees to remake a particular segment of that film within the constraints of one or another rule ("obstruction") that von Trier trumps up and arbitrarily imposes.This is done five times, i.e., five shorts are created within this film, each using one of the five different constraints. These are, in turn: (1) no edit can be longer than 12 frames (i.e., that's the constraint for the first short Leth is to make); (2) the film must be shot in a miserable environment (in Bombay as it turns out); this, von Trier says, is to pose an ethical challenge; (3) the film must be shot in a setting of complete freedom, whatever that means; this time Brussels is chosen, though I was unaware that that city was known for its wild abandon; (4) the film must be animated, i.e., rendered in a cartoon form; and (5) the film is composed of Leth reading aloud a letter previously composed by von Trier for Leth, though the letter is framed as though it were vice versa, i.e., written by Leth to von Trier.The best part is the animated segment, using a technique producing images not unlike Richard Linklater's in "Waking Life," maybe better. Also pretty amusing is the first sequence, showing various rapidly shifting poses of a (Cuban?) man smoking a cigar. The rest is a colossal bore. (In Danish, English, French & Spanish) My rating: 5/10 (C). (Seen on 05/2/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

I have noticed that quite a lot of people seem to dig this stuff. But I have yet to see a single explanation - even argument - as to what is the point of it all.I can see something mildly interesting in Von Triers idea with the five obstructions. How restricting rules can spur creativity - as with the dogma rules.But the original movie by Jørgen Leth can only be described as ridiculous. So this goes for the remakes too.I mean, look at it: "Here is a man. The perfect man. This is his eye. This is his nose. His mouth. How does he eat? This is how he eats."Helloooo???!!...Being Danish I am ashamed that this can pass as art. Coming from the very country that brought us the story of "The emperor's new clothes".