Page - 174 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

Of Fathers, Sons and the Gap Between … For nine generations, all the men of the Krogh family have been pastors. Johannes’s two sons, Christian (Simon Sears) and August (Morten Hee Andersen), were also meant to follow that path, but only the younger, August, fulfilled the destiny, and he now works as a promising pastor within Provost Johannes’s district. Christian also once studied theology, but he quit; now he is banned from the Economics Depart- ment because of plagiarism (fig. 1). His mother, Elisabeth (Ann Leonora Jørgensen), tries to comfort Christian, but she does not succeed in calming down her husband. Christian feels unloved by his powerful or almost “almighty” father and is angry with him. The gap between fa- ther and son is a result of Christian’s disobedience, a behaviour Johannes is not will- ing to accept. “Obey or fail” seems to be Johannes’s motto. And he acts according to it. When he throws Christian out of the family home, Johannes declares with a mean smirk that Christ was the one who “liked happy endings”, forgiveness and such, but he, Johannes, believes in consequences. Christian’s existence is deeply shaped by feelings of inadequacy and a desperate wish for Johannes’s approval. August also seeks his father’s attention. He leaves Denmark to serve as an army chaplain in a Middle Eastern war zone. During an attack, August feels forced to fire – Fig. 1: Christian (Simon Sears) seeks new orientation © Tine Harden  / Arte France. TV-Series Review: Herrens Veje | 173www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 172–179