För kärleken

You can call this Swedish drama an episode movie with an uneven script. It tries to show racial prejudices in a Sweden which is supposed to be relatively clean from it. These affect private lives, professional lives and they also make people's lives unhappy. And it all takes place in one day.

The problem here is the overacting, which is performed by everybody except Peter Gardinger. This mostly means that the director doesn't trust his script. People act in the most un-Swedish way, when they don't act according to...that's right...common prejudices about this country.

What is supposed to be a drama, turns out into almost slapstick. And the probably good intentions aren't fulfilled.

This is a wonderful film, well produced, wonderfully directed and fantastically acted! It follows several individuals as they struggle to get through what quickly turns out to be a nightmare of a day and it does so with great sensitivity and a good portion of dark humor. An intricately woven fabric of human experience and a must see for those of us who feel deep love for our fellow man/woman and enjoy art that speaks to us in that vein. In fact, most of Swedish press raved about the film upon release while it often seems to touch a sore nerve by including subjects of racism, ageism, misogyny and general ignorance during a period of hardening climate in Swedish society (as witnessed by racist party being elected into government) and attracts more than it's share of slightly murky "reviews" in various more or less anonymous internet forums. A shame since this might cause some to miss a great film.

In many ways, the plot in this movie closely resembles Crash (2004). Prejudice is rife, tensions arise slowly and climaxes around a horrific traffic accident. Generally, Swedish society is generally believed to be pretty low on racial prejudice, at least that is the picture painted in the general media. However, director (and immigrant) Othman Karim wants to show another Sweden in this movie.

Most Swedes in this movie are generally portrayed as cold, greedy, distant and indifferent. The notable exception is the African man portrayed by Danny Glover, who is nice to everybody but encounters hostility wherever he goes.

The movie is stylish and contains many beautifully shot scenes, not often seen in Swedish movies. Though the plot is flawed and incoherent and the quality of the acting is both high and low, it is apparent that this is one of the more ambitious movies made in Sweden in recent years, and though it has its flaws it is pretty entertaining and well worth watching.