Draped in the conventions of a thriller, Ole Bornedal looks into the heart of small town Denmark to reveal its xenophobic, classist nature. Lars, the town reprobate, runs over Anna while driving drunk, and in a moment of clear-eyed panic, hides the body and hatches a plot to blame Alain, a Bosnian refugee ? knowing full well no one in town will doubt the ‘foreigner’ is to blame. The town’s hatred and fear is embodied in Ingvar, the conservative, upper-class mayor and the threats to it come in the form of Johannes, the liberal prodigal son. A film of contrasting parallels ? good and evil, urban and rural, left and right ? [Deliver Us from Evil] raises more questions than it answers, and never comes to easy conclusions. Johannes’ liberalism is often painted as condescending. Lars challenges his own wayward beliefs. Ingvar’s hatred is rooted in intense pain. The issues merge into a murky moral quagmire when the story’s complex endgame unfolds, in garish color, with Bornedal intentionally muddying the waters of right and wrong.