The King Is Alive

R

Released May 11, 2000

1 hr. 48 min.

Drama

List

60%

68 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.

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Critics Consensus

Though the plot feels rather contrived, the ensemble acting in this Dogme 95 film is good.

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Steve D

It doesn't amount to much.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/31/24

Full Review

Audience Member

I am sure that pissing on JJ Lee wouldn't move me as much now as it did ten years ago. So, I have to reassess my views on this shit.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

a soap opera in the desert .. zzzzz

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Humans get lost in the "African" desert practicing a play while a black old man watches silently from distant. The universe's tale perhaps ?

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

What an unpleasant and nasty little film. The film is a character study of human nature with a bunch of unappealing characters. You can hardly become involved in a film when everyone in it is a jerk. Very slow moving, but has some stunning visual moments. The acting is good.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Bad Jennifer Jason Leigh!! What that women was going to her husband, with the bus driver, so pitiful. Kudos to the bus driver, for not giving in.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

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Kristian Levring

Director

Miles Anderson

Jack

Romane Bohringer

Catherine

David Bradley

Henry

David Calder

Charles

Bruce Davison

Ray

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Brandon Judell

indieWire

The King is Alive interweaves the madness, the foolhardiness, the greed and the ferocity of human nature that Shakespeare depicted so brilliantly in Lear back in 1606, and shatters us again and again with its insights made refreshed.

Rated: 9/10

Jul 3, 2014

Full Review

Lisa Nesselson

Variety

:ags in the middle, growing more interesting -- if hardly more original -- only as the situation deteriorates.

Jul 6, 2008

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

It's all very watchable, thanks to excellent performances all around...

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Film4

The endless vistas of sand that surround the forlorn settlement embody the void at the heart of its abandoned, terrified characters.

Jul 6, 2008

Full Review

Jason Gorber

Film Scouts

I spent much of the movie marvelling about how the form and style of the Dogme film fit perfectly into the story, and how none of the players seemed like they were pretending, even when they were being theatrical.

Rated: A

Jun 21, 2007

Full Review

Brandon Judell

Detour Magazine

Here is a small masterpiece about the erosion of civilized egos by the elements.

Aug 6, 2006

Full Review

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Synopsis

Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.

Director: Kristian Levring
Executive Producer: Chris J. Ball, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, David Linde, William Tyrer
Screenwriter: Anders Thomas Jensen, Kristian Levring, William Shakespeare
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Good Machine, Nordic Film & TV Fund, Newmarket Capital Group
Rating: R (Language|Sexuality)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 11, 2000, Wide
Box Office (Gross USA): $103.5K
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Surround