The King Is Alive
The King Is Alive is a 2000 English-language Danish drama film directed by Kristian Levring, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Davison, David Bradley, Janet McTeer, 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.
Plot
A group of tourists are stranded in the Namibian 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 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.Cast
- Miles Anderson as Jack
- Romane Bohringer as Catherine
- David Bradley as Henry
- David Calder as Charles
- Bruce Davison as Ray
- Brion James as Ashley
- Peter Khubeke as Kanana
- Vusi Kunene as Moses
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Gina
- Janet McTeer as Liz
- Chris Walker as Paul
- Lia Williams as Amanda