And we are supposed to feel fine about it. This black comedy is a stranger comes to town story (although in this case the community comes to the stranger, since he is housebound through grief after suffering a spinal cord injury) that capitalizes on the bad-behavior genre. The violence and cruelty in the movie -- there is a surprising amount of violence, although it results in very little gore -- express a universal urge to rage against bad luck, and this is the pleasure viewers are supposed to derive from watching. Unfortunately, in this pre-#MeToo movie, this violence is overwhelmingly directed at a woman. The woman who receives this violence is one of four able-bodied characters, and, as the facilitator of a support group for people with disabilities, she represents authority. She also represents the system and the vapidity of mainstream culture, which is a substantial narrative stretch, since people who work in care are almost always disadvantaged women. To cover this stretch, she is presented as the author of a book about the group that has just been accepted for publication. This plot point touches on interesting issues about representation of illness and disability, but, like the issue of suffering as competition also raised by the movie, the treatment is confusing and unresolved. At some points, the group members are shown as collaborators, and at others, victims of exploitation. The other women in the movie come in for a lot of abuse, too; the long-suffering girlfriend, the group member whose suffers a mental illness rather than a physical disability, and the woman with quadriplegia function primarily as sexual objects. Their agency is limited to providing sexual access. The men in the movie don't benefit from this; their agency is limited to sexual performance, and this, it seems, is the real problem of the badly-behaving hero stranger. In this film, the men's violence stands in for sexual performance; by battering a woman, they demonstrate they still have some agency. Bigger issues about loneliness and guilt are raised in the process of farcical sexual pursuit, but, like the suffering-as-competition and disability-porn themes, they aren't explored with any depth. Instead, the badly-behaving hero is cast as redeemer, and the narrative ends with the perplexing message that deliverance comes in the form of a wealthy white man with a big gun, booze and weed. The long-suffering girlfriend rides off into the sunset (sunrise, in this case) with the stranger, who has, one hopes, finally realized clinical potency isn't required for sex. Farce and loose threads aren't problems. The ambiguity and dominant theme of moral anarchic catharsis would be enjoyable if it weren't for the sexist framing of the violence in this film. The assaults endured by the group facilitator are simply too realistic, too close to the harassment and abuse endured by women in all kinds of workplaces, particularly care work, to fall under black comedy. This film literally gave me nightmares, and will give nightmares to many women who have experienced sexual, verbal, emotional and verbal assault of the kind that has been overlooked or trivialized.

a cool film about a physically disabled group thinking in a positive way, until a new member enters the gang unwillingly on his part. suddenly everyone comes to terms of how miserable they really are, which is not necessarily a bad moment in their li...(read more)ves. they rather seem to have a new purpose in life in a most enjoyable destructive way. the characters are just funny as hell, and i think the film easily could have gone 1 hour longer with great results. this was Oscar worthy in my opinion, but it was also too short. if there would be better time exploring the characters that would be great, because there really was something special about these people in wheelchairs that makes you think of what you usually take for granted. the relationship between Geirr and his wife was really powerful and seemed so real and conflicting. everyone should see this film as a sake of not missing out on something great.

I was looking forward to this movie for months. And not because I studied in Norway, but because we are overwhelmed with American love stories, sad stories, catastrophic movies, movies that have to last at least 2 hours and make your body ache with pain. I just wanted to see a movie that has actually something to say, can say it clearly enough and be entertaining at the same time. And it all came true! This film is very much about the fact, that feeling depressed and angry can be sometimes more useful that false positive and light-hearted approach. It helps the pain go away much faster and you can finally, at this desperate and hopeless moment, start a new chapter of your life with a clean slate. Things that we all keep in our minds and are ashamed to think of or even to say aloud are spoken and discussed vividly here with all the logical consequences. And with all this said, you will rather laugh through out this movie than cry or have deep thoughts. They come later :-)

what you might expect when entering the theaters for this movie is a sad little feel-sorry movie from ice-cold Norway. I mean, how can a movie with handicapped people be any fun? well, lets start with the colourful ensemble of characters in this movie. first there's of course geirr, an impotent wheelchair bound master of the negative, that looks like he's been to Vietnam and back a dozen times, who compensates his lack of "drive" with a ridiculously large handgun. there's also a rebellious grandmother, a stroke-victim, a paralyzed woman with a grin plastered firmly on her face, and a cast of control-freak "healthy" people. mix this together, and you have a healthy dose of facades being torn down for some self-destructive letting lose. its a fresh breath of air amidst the dreary number of gangster wannabe movies thats been pouring out of norwegian cinemas.as a bonus on the DVD, you get a small movie about a thug with a bad back filmed in a documentary-style manner, which is also worth a watch.another glittering gem in Norways collection of weird little movies.