Jalla! Jalla! (2000)
7/10
Politically Correkt about multicultural Sweden
22 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Sweden has in the last few decades accepted very many immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. This movie is partly about the culture shocks that come as a natural consequence. Although I must say the movie is very Politically Correct. The reality, when a girl from the Middle East refuses to marry the man her parents have chosen, and instead gets together with a Swede - has on many occasions been much worse than the "liberal and funny" ending of this movie...

Still, a foreigner could probably learn a lot about modern Sweden from it. The atmosphere is right. There were also some funny episodes - for example the one with the dog Rambo. And some funny and likable characters - such as the Libanese middle-aged father and shop-keeper.

The only character (or maybe actor) that was not just right, was Paul. He was too exaggerated as the archetypal Middle East brother, at the same time as he did not play an Arab very convincingly. He looked and sounded too European, and his accent was obviously fake.

As most modern Swedish movies, "Jalla Jalla" comes through as quite low-budget and amateurish. Also, I think there was too much sex, violence and rude language in it - which is, I am afraid, also quite typical of modern Swedish movies. Still, I recommend it for light entertainment in the company of adults only!
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