This is a film where the action is taking place in Stockholm of the 1920's, a rather turbulent era in a way. Partly one talk about 'The Roaring Twenties', even if this was more in the United States, London, Berlin and Paris partly poverty was a great problem in these countries, in those days as much in Sweden as in the above mentioned cities or countries. During these conditions the xenophobia and a growing antisemitism began to resurface among people in Europe, Sweden being no exception.
In this film we meet Roland (Jesper Salén) a boy living with a socialist father Fritiof (Stellan Skarsgård) and a Jewish mother, Zipa (Basia Frydman) having a brother - Bertil (Niklas Olund) - who is a boxer (or trying to be).
Even if the social movements grew stronger during this time, socialism and communism was not always accepted as ideologies among many people. This not least after the October Revolution in Russia, a political movement also having the reverse effect, making those ideas more and more popular among the workers.
Roland's mother is selling condoms illegally, something the state and not least the Church doesn't approve of and his father is fighting for his and his fellow workers rights and this struggle sometimes gets him in trouble.
His brother is bullying him around to some extent, not least as Roland is not interested in boxing and tries to avoid fights.
When Roland gets hold of some condoms, he starts making slingshots of them, selling them to the kids and youngsters in the neighbourhood. This causes him a lot of problems of course, not least when his teachers get to know this. In turn this also causes problems for his mother with the authorities. In all it's a very turbulent situation for Roland and his family.
Roland is a sort of catalyst and mediator of the social environment in which he lives.
Through him we get to see how the society is structured, the hierachical structures and the intolerance on different levels.
Still the Swedish society was very unequal and the rich could oppress the poor in a much harder way than today (at least if we look upon this from a Swedish or European horizon, even though the rich still oppress and humiliate the poor or less rich), creating deadly conflicts and also giving rise to the Social Democratic Party and its long rule in Swedish politics.
On the same time the growing nazism or fascism was displayed not only through how less fortunate people were treated but also how people emanating from other cultures were 'welcomed' by the average Swede.
In this case Roland's family consisted not only of a poor working class (hero) man but also a Jewish woman (selling condoms!!!).
On the same time one can detect Fritiof's ambition to learn and read, something not so uncommon among the poor and politically engaged people at the time. We had a period in Sweden where the learning was important and where people tried to raise themselves from poverty through a high general education, often being autodidact.
The acting is mainly good and the story is interesting from many points of views, not only the macro-societal but also the micro with Roland discovering his sexuality for the first time in his life.
Director: Åke Sandgren.
In this film we meet Roland (Jesper Salén) a boy living with a socialist father Fritiof (Stellan Skarsgård) and a Jewish mother, Zipa (Basia Frydman) having a brother - Bertil (Niklas Olund) - who is a boxer (or trying to be).
Even if the social movements grew stronger during this time, socialism and communism was not always accepted as ideologies among many people. This not least after the October Revolution in Russia, a political movement also having the reverse effect, making those ideas more and more popular among the workers.
Roland's mother is selling condoms illegally, something the state and not least the Church doesn't approve of and his father is fighting for his and his fellow workers rights and this struggle sometimes gets him in trouble.
His brother is bullying him around to some extent, not least as Roland is not interested in boxing and tries to avoid fights.
When Roland gets hold of some condoms, he starts making slingshots of them, selling them to the kids and youngsters in the neighbourhood. This causes him a lot of problems of course, not least when his teachers get to know this. In turn this also causes problems for his mother with the authorities. In all it's a very turbulent situation for Roland and his family.
Roland is a sort of catalyst and mediator of the social environment in which he lives.
Through him we get to see how the society is structured, the hierachical structures and the intolerance on different levels.
Still the Swedish society was very unequal and the rich could oppress the poor in a much harder way than today (at least if we look upon this from a Swedish or European horizon, even though the rich still oppress and humiliate the poor or less rich), creating deadly conflicts and also giving rise to the Social Democratic Party and its long rule in Swedish politics.
On the same time the growing nazism or fascism was displayed not only through how less fortunate people were treated but also how people emanating from other cultures were 'welcomed' by the average Swede.
In this case Roland's family consisted not only of a poor working class (hero) man but also a Jewish woman (selling condoms!!!).
On the same time one can detect Fritiof's ambition to learn and read, something not so uncommon among the poor and politically engaged people at the time. We had a period in Sweden where the learning was important and where people tried to raise themselves from poverty through a high general education, often being autodidact.
The acting is mainly good and the story is interesting from many points of views, not only the macro-societal but also the micro with Roland discovering his sexuality for the first time in his life.
Director: Åke Sandgren.
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