The Kingdom (TV miniseries)
645071
221967664
2008-06-26T22:25:24Z
62.107.79.106
/* Plot */
{{infobox television |
| show_name = The Kingdom
| image = [[Image:Lars von Trier The Kingdom DVD cover.jpg|260px]]
| caption =
| format = [[Comedy]], [[Drama]], [[Horror film|Horror]], [[Mystery fiction|Mystery]]
| runtime = 1:12 (on average per episode)
| creator = [[Lars von Trier]]
| starring = [[Ernst-Hugo Järegård]]<br>[[Kirsten Rolffes]]<br>[[Holger Juul Hansen]]<br>[[Søren Pilmark]]<br>[[Ghita Nørby]]<br>[[Baard Owe]]<br>[[Birgitte Raaberg]]<br>[[Udo Kier]] |
| country = [[Denmark]]
| network = [[Danmarks Radio|DR]]
|distributor = [[Koch-Lorber Films]]
| first_aired = [[1994]]
| last_aired = [[1997]]
| num_episodes = 8
|}}
'''''The Kingdom''''' ([[Danish language|Danish]] title: '''''Riget''''') is an eight-episode [[Denmark|Danish]] [[television]] [[mini-series]], created by [[Lars von Trier]] in [[1994]], and co-directed by Lars von Trier and [[Morten Arnfred]]. It has been edited together into a five-hour [[film|movie]] for distribution in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[United States]]. It is currently available on DVD in the United States from [[Koch-Lorber Films]] and on [[Madman Entertainment]]'s Directors Suite label in Australia/NZ.
The series is set in the [[neurosurgery|neurosurgical]] ward of [[Copenhagen|Copenhagen's]] [[Rigshospitalet]], the city and country's main [[hospital]], nicknamed "Riget". "Riget" means "the realm" or "the kingdom" and leads one to think of "dødsriget", the realm of the dead. The show follows a number of characters, both staff and patients, as they encounter bizarre phenomena, both human and [[supernatural]]. The show is notable for its wry humor, its muted [[Sepia tone|sepia]] colour scheme, a sort of "[[Dogme 95|Dogme]]"-lite shooting style with added [[jump cut]]s, and the appearance of a chorus of dishwashers with [[Down's Syndrome]] who discuss in intimate detail the strange occurrences in the hospital (without ever being involved in the story themselves).
Several episodes end with the [[Sweden|Swedish]] neurosurgeon, Stig Helmer, on the hospital roof, looking longingly out over [[Oresund]] towards the Swedish shore line, and yelling "Danskjävlar!" ("Danish bastards!"), after helplessly witnessing another (to him) example of Danish lunacy. Director Lars von Trier appears over the end credits of every show offering enigmatic observations about the plot. The comic elements and perceived "weirdness" in the series have led to comparisons with ''[[Twin Peaks]]''.
The first quartet of episodes ended with numerous questions unanswered, and in [[1997]], the cast reassembled to produce another group of four episodes, '''''Riget II''''' ('''''The Kingdom II'''''). This series continued exactly from where the first finished, and kept the trademark [[Sepia tone|sepia]] colouring and shaky camera-work of the first series. Von Trier continued to appear over the end credits.
This second series ended with even more questions unanswered than the first, and a third series was planned. However, due to the death in [[1998]] of [[Ernst-Hugo Järegård]] (who played the Swedish [[neurosurgery|neurosurgeon]]) and the subsequent deaths of [[Kirsten Rolffes]] (Mrs Drusse) and [[Morten Rotne Leffers]] who played the male dishwasher, the likelihood of a third series is now very remote. Von Trier actually wrote the third and final season, but the production was not picked up by [[Danmarks Radio|DR]]. At that point, five regular cast members had died and it seemed impossible to continue the series. The abandoned scripts were sent to the producers of Stephen King's ''[[Kingdom Hospital]]'', but it is unclear whether they used the scripts or not.
Despite being a mini-series, it appears as one of the [[1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die]].
==Plot==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Riget-opening-logo.jpg|260px|thumb|Opening logo|{{deletable image-caption|1=Sunday, 2 March 2008}}]] -->
[[Image:Ernst.hugo.riket.jpg|260px|thumb|[[Ernst-Hugo Järegård]] as Doctor Helmer]]
The show begins with the admission of a [[spiritualist]] [[patient]], Sigrid Drusse, who hears the sound of a girl crying in the [[elevator]] shaft. Upon investigation, Drusse discovers that the girl had died decades earlier, having been killed by her father to hide her illegitimacy. In order to put the spirit to rest, Drusse searches for the girl's body, ultimately finding it preserved in a specimen jar in the office of the hospital's professor of pathology, professor Bondo ([[Baard Owe]])
Meanwhile, [[neurosurgery|neurosurgeon]] Stig Helmer, a recent appointee from [[Sweden]] to the neurosurgery department, tries to cover up his responsibility for a botched operation which left a young girl in a [[persistent vegetative state]].
[[Pathology|Pathologist]] Dr. Bondo attempts to convince the family of a man dying from [[Hepatocellular carcinoma|liver cancer]] to donate his liver to the hospital for research. (In fact, he wants it as a trophy, it being the 2nd largest hepatosarcoma ever recorded.) When his request is denied, Bondo has the cancerous liver [[Organ transplant|transplant]]ed into his own body (the patient having signed an [[organ donation|organ donor]] form), so that the cancer will become his personal property and can be kept within the hospital.
Amongst other plotlines, a young medical student becomes attracted to the nurse in charge of the sleep research laboratory, a ghostly ambulance appears and disappears every night, a junior doctor runs a [[black market]] in medical supplies, and a neurosurgeon discovers that she was impregnated by a ghost and that her baby is developing abnormally rapidly. In every episode, two dishwashers (each with [[Down syndrome]]) in the cellar discuss the strange happenings at Riget.
== Cast ==
[[Ernst-Hugo Järegård]] - Stig Helmer <br>
[[Kirsten Rolffes]] - Sigrid Drusse<br>
[[Holger Juul Hansen]] - Moesgaard<br>
[[Søren Pilmark]] - Krogshøj<br>
[[Ghita Nørby]] - Rigmor<br>
[[Baard Owe]] - Bondo<br>
[[Annevig Schelde Ebbe]] - Mary Jensen<br>
[[Birgitte Raaberg]] - Judith<br>
[[Udo Kier]] - Åge Krüger / Little Brother<br>
[[Jens Okking]] - Bulder<br>
[[Vita Jensen]] - Female dishwasher<br>
[[Morten Rotne Leffers]] - Male dishwasher<br>
[[Stellan Skarsgård]] - The Swedish lawyer
==Episodes==
===''Riget''===
*Day 1: "Den hvide flok" / "The Unheavenly Host"
*Day 2: "Alliancen kalder" / "Thy Kingdom Come"
*Day 3: "Et fremmed legeme" / "A Foreign Body"
*Day 4: "De levende døde" / "The Living Dead"
===''Riget II''===
*Day 5: "Mors in Tabula"
*Day 6: "Trækfuglene" / "Birds of Passage"
*Day 7: "Gargantua"
*Day 8: "Pandæmonium"
== Stephen King's ''Kingdom Hospital'' ==
{{main|Kingdom Hospital}}
[[United States|American]] [[Horror fiction|horror]] writer [[Stephen King]] developed a thirteen-episode mini-series based on ''Riget'', under the title '''''Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital''''', which was broadcast in [[2004]]. The plot retained many of the elements of ''Riget'', transferring the location of the hospital to [[Lewiston, Maine]], and placing it on the site of a mill built before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Many of the characters derived their names from the [[Denmark|Danish]] original (e.g. Sigrid Drusse became Sally Druse, Stig Helmer became Dr. Stegman). A significant difference in the American series was the introduction of the character of a talking [[giant anteater]] in the role of spirit guide/death/Anubis/Antubis.
==External links==
* {{imdb title|id=0108906|title=Riget}}
* {{imdb title|id=0127392|title=Riget II}}
*[http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/01/30/filmtv-review-the-kingdom-1-2 Review]
{{Footer_Movies_Lars_von_Trier}}
[[Category:1994 films|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:1997 films|Kingdom II, The]]
[[Category:Danish films|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:Black comedy films|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:Drama television series|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:Horror television series|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:Drama films|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:1990s horror films|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:Mystery films|Kingdom, The]]
[[Category:Films directed by Lars von Trier|Kingdom, The]]
[[da:Riget]]
[[de:Hospital der Geister]]
[[es:The Kingdom]]
[[fr:L'Hôpital et ses fantômes]]
[[it:The Kingdom - Il Regno]]
[[he:הממלכה]]
[[nl:The Kingdom / Riget]]
[[no:Riget]]
[[pl:Królestwo (film)]]
[[fi:Valtakunta (televisiosarja)]]
[[sv:Riket (dramaserie)]]