View source for The King Is Alive

{{short description|2000 film by Kristian Levring}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{all plot|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox film
| name                 = The King Is Alive
| image                = The King Is Alive VideoCover.jpeg
| caption              = 
| director             = [[Kristian Levring]]
| producer             = [[Vibeke Windeløv]]
| writer               = [[Kristian Levring]]<br />[[Anders Thomas Jensen]]
| narrator             = 
| starring             = [[Miles Anderson]]<br />[[Romane Bohringer]]<br />[[David Bradley (English actor)|David Bradley]]<br />[[David Calder (actor)|David Calder]]<br />[[Jennifer Jason Leigh]]<br />[[Brion James]]
| music                = Jan Juhler
| cinematography       = Jens Schlosser
| editing              = Nicholas Wayman Harris
| distributor          = [[Nordisk Film]] Distribution A/S
| released             = {{Film date|2000|05||Cannes|2001|01|05|df=y}}
| runtime              = 109 minutes
| country              = Denmark
| language             = English
| budget               = 
}}

'''''The King Is Alive''''' is a 2000 English-language Danish [[drama film|drama]] film directed by [[Kristian Levring]], and starring [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]], [[Bruce Davison]], [[David Bradley (English actor)|David Bradley]], [[Janet McTeer]], [[David Calder (actor)|David Calder]], and [[Brion James]] in his final feature film appearance. The fourth film to be done according to the [[Dogme 95]] rules, it was screened in the [[Un Certain Regard]] section at the [[2000 Cannes Film Festival]].{{r|Festival de Cannes}}{{r|Griggs 2014}}

==Plot==
{{more plot|date=December 2018}}
A group of tourists are stranded in the [[Namibia]]n [[desert]] when their bus loses its way and runs out of fuel. Canned carrots and dew keep the tourists alive, but they are helplessly entrapped, completely cut off from the rest of the world. As courage and moral fibre weaken and relationships grow shaky, Henry, a theatrical manager, persuades the group to put on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] tragedy ''[[King Lear]]''. As the tourists work their way through Henry's hand-written scripts for an audience of only the sand dunes and one distant, indigenous watcher, real life increasingly begins to resemble the play.{{r|Dancyger Rush 2012 p. 115}}

==Cast==
* [[Miles Anderson]] as Jack
* [[Romane Bohringer]] as Catherine
* [[David Bradley (English actor)|David Bradley]] as Henry
* [[David Calder (actor)|David Calder]] as Charles
* [[Bruce Davison]] as Ray
* [[Brion James]] as Ashley
* Peter Khubeke as Kanana (as Peter Kubheka)
* [[Vusi Kunene]] as Moses
* [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] as Gina
* [[Janet McTeer]] as Liz
* [[Chris Walker (actor)|Chris Walker]] as Paul
* [[Lia Williams]] as Amanda

==Reception==
{{expand section|date=December 2018}}
On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''The King Is Alive'' holds an approval rating of 60%, based on 68 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. Its consensus reads, "Though the plot feels rather contrived, the ensemble acting in this Dogme 95 film is good."<ref name="rottomatoes">{{cite web |title=The King is Alive (2001) - Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_king_is_alive |website=Rotten Tomatoes.com |publisher=Flixster |access-date=December 24, 2018}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-king-is-alive/critic-reviews|title=Critic Reviews for The King is Alive - Metacritic|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=December 24, 2018}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Dancyger Rush 2012 p. 115">{{cite book
  | last1        = Dancyger
  | first1       = K.
  | last2       = Rush
  | first2      = J.
  | title       = Alternative Scriptwriting: Successfully Breaking the Rules
  | publisher   = Taylor & Francis
  | year        = 2012
  | isbn        = 978-1-136-05370-2
  | url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=fJzcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA115
  | access-date = 20 February 2018
  | page        = 115
  | quote       = Kristian Levring's The King Is Alive goes even further in elevating the character layer and in downplaying the plot layer. Levring also alters the nature of the antagonist. A group of British, American, and French tourists is in transit on a bus in sub-Saharan Africa. Unbeknownst to them, the bus's compass is broken and they end up lost. They arrive at an abandoned mining site. One of the members must walk for 5 days to the nearest town to try to effect a rescue. The others must organize ...
}}</ref>
<ref name="Festival de Cannes">{{cite web
  | title        = THE KING IS ALIVE
  | website      = Festival de Cannes
  | date         = 2018
  | url          = http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/the-king-is-alive
  | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20180220124256/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/the-king-is-alive
  | archive-date = 20 February 2018
  | url-status     = live
  | access-date  = 20 February 2018
}}</ref>
<ref name="Griggs 2014">{{cite book
  | last        = Griggs
  | first       = Y.
  | title       = Screen Adaptations: Shakespeare's King Lear: A close study of the relationship between text and film
  | publisher   = Bloomsbury Publishing
  | series      = Screen Adaptations
  | year        = 2014
  | isbn        = 978-1-4081-4400-8
  | url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=AC9uBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171
  | access-date = 20 February 2018
  | page        = 171
  | quote       = Kristian Levring's The King is Alive is a product of the Danish Dogme New Wave, a movement which emerged in the mid-nineties as a backlash against Hollywood's global domination of the film industry. The democratising and anarchic intent of the Dogme New Wave is outlined in its manifesto; its aim is to bring about 'the ultimate democratisation of the cinema' by envisioning ...
}}</ref>
}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|id=0208911|title=The King Is Alive}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|the_king_is_alive}}
* {{DNFt|31028}}

{{Anders Thomas Jensen}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:King is Alive, The}}
[[Category:2000 films]]
[[Category:2000s adventure drama films]]
[[Category:Danish-language films]]
[[Category:Dogme 95 films]]
[[Category:Danish independent films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Kristian Levring]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Anders Thomas Jensen]]
[[Category:Films set in Namibia]]
[[Category:Films shot in Namibia|Namibia]]
[[Category:Films set in deserts]]
[[Category:2000s survival films]]
[[Category:2000 drama films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:Danish drama films]]
[[Category:English-language adventure drama films]]
{{Dogme 95}}{{Indie-drama-film-stub}}
{{2000s-Denmark-film-stub}}