mariececile_widdershoven Reviews

Together (2000)

A touching movie, with a great sense for humanrelationships.

[10/10 · 5 February 2001]

This was an outstanding film! I have watched it at the Rotterdam Festival of 2001. After the success of Fucking Aamal, Moodysson's new film was sold out and the expectations were high.

The story is placed in Sweden in the seventies. The decade of Marxism, commune lifestyle and tolerance. A group of young people share a house in a Swedish suburb, where the neighbours observe their alternative lifestyle with suspicion. Their claimed tolerance is being tested constantly. Discussions vary from who is supposed to do the dishes and should there be a TV in the house or not? The commune appears almost like a normal family!

There is one painful aspect in the film: the position of the children in the commune. Even for tolerant and political aware parents it seems to be very difficult to give their children a worthy position in the commune and in the society as a whole. It is evident that children are handed over to the chosen lifestyle of the parents; whether conservative or alternative.

From this report it may seem that this is a serious and depressing film. But that is certainly not true! There are many funny and touching moments and there is a pleasant happy ending. I can recommend this film to anyone!

The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (1999)

A delightful portrait of the streetlife in Dakar

[8/10 · 17 August 2000]

Being a poor and handicapped girl in a large West-African city guarantees a life full of hardship. But Sili is determined to take her fate into her own hands. She stops begging and starts to sell the newspaper 'le Soleil'. Although healthy boys dominate this business, she is immediately successful.

The atmosphere of the movie is slightly naïve; Sili successful stands up to policemen and even frees a woman who was imprisoned innocently. Although a bit fairytale-like, the girl Sili is indeed a worthy tribute to the street children of Dakar.