Tre solar

The criticism this film has received is totally unwarranted. One Swedish critic dubbed it the "turkey of the year", which is unnecessarily cruel and absurd. I have seen many other films that I would consider much worse. This leads me to wonder if the critique is against the movie itself or the people who created it.

Tre Solar has an interesting story line. It revolves around how people react to times of crisis and change. It is looks at religion, class, and gender roles. Set in the middle ages, the lead is a strong female character (Hannah). She rescues her husband and several others, on a journey to reunite her family. The story emphasizes through numerous examples that Hannah is unafraid and willing to do anything it takes, even sacrifice herself, for the ones she loves.

I think this was a very ambitious project. The setting (in the Middle Ages) and movement through the film make it a challenge, not to mention the topics it presents. The film is not as smooth as a big budget film. However it is an interesting story and the southern Swedish landscapes create a beautiful setting.

Anyone who only focuses on the wigs, obviously missed the point of this film.

"Tre Solar" could have been the top Swedish movie of the year, instead it is rather the low-point for the last five years. It's surprising why - we have the current Swedish actor elites, nice filming and authentic outfits and environments. Yet, tre solar doesn't pull much off - due to the really lame script. For minutes barely ANYTHING happens. Woman walks in, sees man, talks to him, he answers in absent words, tragic discover. Next scene. Repeats again. I have absolutely no idea what went wrong during the production, but it seems very strange to me that actors with such experience as these, making all the top roles in recent movies, wouldn't see this coming. Perhaps "Tre Solar" is the perfect example of the majority of Swedish films - some wish-to-be-made movie is granted financial support not because it is something people want to see on the big screen, but rather because it seems like an interesting aim to some people (namely the academy granting money to support Swedish film-making). Much as it pains me, but Tre Solar cannot earn more than 2/10 by me.

Maybe one has to be Swedish to fully appreciate Tre Solar. Understanding the words is not enough. In the making of this film one could have chosen between fantasy and realism. Apparently writer and director Richard Hobert went for realism. The sets, the cast, the acting and the costumes are all convincing enough. But then his heroine Hanna (Endre) acts like a serious anachronism. She is a modern day Swedish woman with none of the taboo or restrain that medieval patriarchate put on women. While the story runs from AD to BC, modern Swedish film-making often deems it necessary to be vulgar and offensive to make a point. Though Hoberts script is mild in this respect (from Swedish point of view), its arrogance may still be enough to cause contempt. To paraphrase a Swedish idiom; "At least two of the three suns come down like pancake." In script and in ambition. There are many really poor films being made. This is not one of them. This one is medieval and plain mediocre... Though we have to acknowledge its potential.

Alot of the negative criticism this movie has gotten seems to concentrate on the wigs. Personally I don't think that's got anything to do with why the movie isn't good. The wigs didn't bother me at all actually. Overall I thought the whole production seemed quite serious and it looked good to me and didnt detract from the movie.

The thing that puts this movie down is the script and directing. It's absolutely terrible. And I'm not kidding here. It seems like something I wrote back in fourth grade. And the way they try to put humour into it. It's pretty hilarious, not due to the jokes, but due to it being so utterly ridiculous.

And it's not particularly true to that age either. I mean people didn't call the plague "the plague" back then. They called it the "big death". Also they had no idea that the rats were the ones spreading the disease either so there's no reason for the characters of the movie to fear the rats so much.

I dont really know what this movie wants. It seems like half of the time they're trying to have a history lesson and the other they're trying to be funny. And inbetween they're just riding on horses. There's no red line connecting it at all. I'll admit it gave me a few laughs but that was mostly due to the horses having so short legs making them look ridiculous when they galloped. But all in all this isn't a movie to see if your not a moviebuff like myself.

3/10

Yet another failure for swedish cinema! There should be no question that Sweden has the most pretentious and arrogant film-makers in the world. They simply don´t make the films people want to see, they make this crap instead. Which would be perfectly alright if part of the films budget didn´t come from tax money, which it does!

This is a sorry mess of a film. The only hint that a quite substantial amount of money (in Swedish terms) has gone into this project is the technical aspects. The photo is not too bad and the music is tolerable. Also the cast are almost all swedish "stars". Unfortunately most of these actors seem to think the movie is as silly as i do, sometimes they come terribly close to making fun of the movie.

And there is actually a lot of things to make fun of. First off the acting is mostly terrible. Only the lead actress (Lena Endre) really seems to take this film seriously. The rest act like they´re out on a masquerade or something, talking like it´s 2003 instead of 1300-something. Also the actors look silly, especially due to the horrible whigs they are wearing throughout the movie.

But most of this could have been forgiven if not for the one most fatal flaw. Namely the total lack of a decent script. Seriously this movie is about nothing. Mostly it´s just people riding back and forth through a desolate landscape. The story is... nothing really. Which ultimately makes this film utterly pointless.

This is truly a 1/10.