Nordvest

Casper, our main character earns a living by skillfully breaking into peoples homes and sell the stolen goods to the local receiver (Jamal).

He doesn´t get any respect from Jamal and his men, he is humiliated and it seems that he doesn´t get fair prizes for the goods he has stolen. So one day he is approached by a stranger, that makes a proposition. You get the feeling that Casper senses danger, as well as we does for that matter, as he does not accept the proposition in the first place but later he changes his mind and then the real drama can begin.

The stranger is a guy named Bjørn who is involved in organized crime. He has a brothel (this is usually Hells Angels in Denmark) and needs somebody to handle transport, security and economy and slowly, no, very fast as a matter of fact, is Casper in charge of these assignments. Casper wants to be involved but at the same time we get a very clear notion, that at a certain point he cannot pull out without problems. He is slowly losing control over his own life.

When the old receiver sends out his guys to get Casper back into his old business a conflict of interests has started that can only be ended in one way...... Casper is together with his kid brother brought out into a forest and taught how to use a gun. By the instructions given you get a very, very clear notion that an execution is going to take place.

It´s rare to watch social drama wherein everybody doesn´t stand out on some pathology scale. Casper and the rest of his family doesn´t stand out as sociopaths or having a drug/alcohol addiction. Casper is very affectionate towards his little sister and really seems resourceful here. The mother isn´t introduced much but there is nothing that stand out as suspicious.

So the big question - why does Casper and his brother get involved in criminal activities? Well, the explanation cannot be found within the family so instead....? Its the simple fact of growing up in Northvest - or a ghetto for that matter. Its a society within the society governed by its own laws. The mother knows what is going on - suddenly he wears a Rolex watch and it is as if she wants to have a conversation about this but in the same moment gives up. Alone she cannot fight and win the battle to get Casper back on track.

The pace of the story, the portrait of the characters and the description of the milieu in "nortvest" is put very well together in this movie.

A small masterpiece....

/Simon

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Even in the welfare society, it is difficult for a single mother to raise 3 children, particularly if two are teens whose need for money and approval is high. And less decent neighborhood includes several lures difficult to resist... Such is the background where two brothers Casper and Andy - leading characters of the film - have to cope. Surroundings is ugly and hard, with lots of gangs and violence, and outside help is scarcely available (incl. police or special organisations) - apart from adult criminals (such as Bjørn or Jamal) eager to use the youngsters' unshaped personality. But sooner or later, you have to make choices, and in such a way living, it is usually between bad and worse... The ending scenes are logical, although the very end could have been less brusque; well, it was intentional, I guess, for viewers pondering on and over.

The cast is rather uneven, the real brothers Dyekjær Gieses depict Casper and Andy well and in a realistic manner, but all the others were uninviting to me. The plot seemed unsteady, floating as well, some scenes remained incomplete or provided no additional meaning to the film. Or I am just unable to see more values because I have been "spoiled" by distinguishable acting (e.g. Mikkelsens, Bodnia, Lie Kaas) and more sophisticated plots (e.g. Vinterberg, Vinding Refn) visible in Danish films.

I saw this at Pifan 2013 in Bucheon, South Korea, and while I've seen several Danish movies that were so-so to lackluster, this one was entertaining.

Caspar is a young man who has a single mother and two siblings in Copenhagen. He burglarizes homes and sells the stuff he steals to an Arab thug, Jamal, who cheats him all the time. Caspar is later offered a job with a pimp named Bjorn and starts to earn good money. But Jamal is angry that Caspar is working for someone else and seeks revenge.

The movie was interesting and the characters seemed real, though I don't know much about Denmark. I'd say this was worth a watch, though the ending seemed a bit flat.

Some people expect that Scandinavia has no problems; here you can see gangs and violence in Denmark. "Nordwest" is very entertaining movie about Danish underworld. Besides that, it is important to highlight the successful narrative strategy chosen by movie makers: exploring the contrasts. Throughout the movie, until the very end, the story alternates between family life and crime, poor and wealthy living, immigrants and white men, intimidation and fear, child innocence and bandit violence, preserving the brother and introducing him to the gang, defenseless prostitutes and mob warriors, noise and silence, fast pace and stillness. I strongly recommend this film. Some people complained about the end, but I think it was a great idea. Indeed, that's the difference between obvious formulas and the mastery of the cinema language.

I love realistic drama, and the creators of this film maintained the illusion of watching a good documentary, without commentary, but delivering slamming meaning, and meanings, just the same. The proliferation of single mothers raising a family is a bane to society, and young men growing up to think being silent and emotionless is the means to self actualization leads toward the fall.

I could identify with Casper immediately, even being female, and not a burglar. I did not see him as a criminal but one who is flailing in existential angst with no hope of a future to get ahead.

If he had had a Tiger mom, and along with all the other siblings had been made to study, instead of playing video games, and play hooky from school with impunity, there would not have been a movie. The mother is depicted as gentle, not crass, loving, but not having the means to discipline her brew.

Casper's downfall is his ultimate sense of decency his younger brother does not have, and him I see as a criminal mind, a psychopathic personality who can't keep from bragging, and betrays his brother who made the mistake of coming back to help him.

I really felt badly for the gals who were treated as chattel sex toys. Though I have never been in their position either, my heart cries out to all women who end up in such desperate, and deplorable conditions which only result in ultimate abandonment and downfall,symbolized by the hapless gal who gets shot and is immediately just shuffled off, and we are pretty sure it is not to a hospital.

The frightening rise of kids being conceived out of wedlock and raised by single mothers or because of divorce, is not a good sign for the continued polarization of our society between the haves and the have-nots. We not only need more tiger moms, but tiger dads.