Power Play

This prize winning series, Power Play (in Norwgian: Makta) tell the story about how Norway's first prime female minister Gro Harlem Brundtland came to power in the Norwegian Labour party. Starting in 1974 when she came from noting to be be first minister of environmental issues.

The series tell with hour and wit what happened according to several biographies, the fight for power within the party and the country.

Even if this is going from the mid seventies, the environment is kept in modern Oslo which works fine, sine this is told with humour.

Some of the politicians are spot on played by actors, others are totally unrecognizable. Some will obviously react to this negatively, but I don't find it disturbing for the history telling.

The series won "best seris" at the Cannes Series Festival 2023.

An absolutely brilliantly done TV show! It has humour, intrigue and fascinating storyline. It looks like this show was made for an old film. The actors do a great job. My favourite was Reiulf, he was brilliant and hilarious.

The best thing for me about this TV show was the connection to real events, and Gro Harlem Bruntland's career was dealt with in a delightfully personal way. I hope Gro has seen the show and liked it. I find it hard to see how such a thing could be made any more interesting than Makta was. I don't know if this has anything to do with me being from Finland, but the humour in the series was really funny and subtle, maybe even unintentional in some situations. Because I have lived through that time, I remember many things like the music of Bobbysocks from the early 1980's that played in the fifth episode of the second season. It brought back good memories.

More like this, please.

Historical about the Norwegian Labour Party. For reference, the Norwegian Labour Party is traditionally quite socialist compared to comparable sister parties in Europe and even had ties to the Soviet Union at one point.

The series seems well-executed but with some odd choices, such as using modern sets even though the plot is set in the 70s. This is merely irritating and unnecessary. The wardrobe is also incorrect, but at least there are some symbolic ideas behind it.

Both in the 70s and in our own time, we see a party struggling with renewal. Nevertheless, the success of the protagonist back then has caused the party to go through its struggles until 2023, which is worth a small tribute.

The series is a bit typical Norwegian and awkward, but the actors do a good job, and the plot is intriguing enough. However, much of the power struggle that made the party better back then is now their problem today.

The series is well-timed as Norway is entering a new era of modern politics, where the Labour Party is losing support. They are more significant in a historical perspective than they are relevant today.