BIFF Update - Sons of Anarchy

Punk rawk! I kicked off my 'official' festival experience last night with 'Sons of Norway', a funny and sweet movie about a kid just trying to rebel by getting into punk rock in the late 70s, foiled at every turn by his dad's liberal views.  If you like punk music, you'll love this entertaining and very funny movie as I did.

Nikolaj is a young boy, I'd guess about 14, brought up in Norway by a loving but slightly oddball family.  His dad is a bit of a hippie with extremely liberal views on many things, and his Mum is a very loving and tolerant lady who indulges her husband and kids.  At the beginning, Nikolaj and his friends dress like normal kids in flared jeans and t-shirts but they are already interested in music such as The Stooges and the Sex Pistols.  Following a tragic accident with his mother, Nikolaj increasingly turns to punk as a way of life that resonates for him and rebels against society, police and parents.  The only problem is that his Dad, Magnus, not only is not offended by Nik's clothing and behaviour, he doesn't even comment on some of it and as time goes on he even openly embraces the ethos and actively encourages the boys to continue.  Needless to say, acceptance isn't what Nik is looking for from his dad and you wonder what is going to happen to these two lovable misfits.

The things I loved about this movie were the nostalgia for the 70s punk explosion, the humour and the fact that the Dad was actually the most anarchist person in the group.  My friend Mat accompanied me and I think he summed it up well in saying that it was great because it wasn't a typical Hollywood structure of a movie.  If this was your typical Hollywood movie, the dad would be disapproving and there'd be a struggle and then everyone would kiss and make up at the end, but instead the dad is liberal to the extreme and the boy has to come to terms with the fact that he really has nothing to rebel against.  I think it's trying to say something about the punk movement's ethos with a guest appearance by Johnny Rotten (looking more and more like a caricature every day) but I didn't really get a clear idea of the conclusion it was drawing.  Despite the slightly downbeat ending, I found this to be really entertaining and I remember having a big smile on my face almost the whole time.

Sons of Norway is screening again on Saturday 17 November (tomorrow) at 6:30pm.  Check it out!