Countrymen

A visually beautiful series that dares to address sensitive and serious topics we all have to deal with whether we like it or not. The series manage to balance humour and seriousness without it becoming flat and meaningless. Some parts are a little bit too much of a sitcom for my liking and some events are dragged out a little too long, but when I stumbled on this series I had never heard of it, and I binge watched it. I almost never binge watch. Good acting performances.

Absolutely excellent plot and a genuine good feeling in this Norwegian show. Great humour and good acting skills. It reminds me of other great, Danish, shows. I would recommend all to see this show!

It was a surprise how good it was, the representation of Muslims and Islam was so accurate and beautiful, quoting hadiths and even prayers were done correctly. There is so much humanity in this show, the beautiful Norwegian people and their kindness. There is a brief lesson to learn and question 'why', why and how someone is radicalized, decades of oppression and misery can lead to hatred, and people become irrational and even forget the teachings of Islam. If it was Hollywood, it would be nothing, just another generic script, targeting and using stereotypes to generalize a whole population of Muslims. It reminded me of Anders Thomas Jensen (Flickering Lights, Adam Aebler). I would be following the creators of this show (Izer Aliu and Anne Bjørnstad) and see what else they have created. Even when the English subtitles I had, weren't perfect, maybe machine-translated, it didn't stop me from binge-watching this brilliant series!

Absolutely fantastic. Funny, easy but still deep mini series about life, religion and problems we are witnessing in Norway. I hope many as possible see this in Norway and Scandinavia.

Generally, I regard busy pace as a cover-up for hollowness, and I often turn away from comedies that come off as too ADHD for me. Yet this fussy production managed to completely hold my attention throughout, without ever overloading my nerves. A big part of the success is the strong emotional presence that especially Nader Khademi (as Marwan) and Arben Bala (as Khabib) had shining through, despite the caricaturish nature of the gallery of characters. Another part I guess is the particular ways the production intertwines threads of tragedy into it all. Comedy cannot exist without a touch of tragedy, and the crux is how you balance the two.