Izzat, les versets du mal

This is actually the first movie made in Norway that tells a story from the Oslo underworld. back in the 80's and 90's a new breed of criminals was on the rise in Norways capitol, Oslo. they were more violent, more international and far more dangerous than we had ever seen before. Norwegian drug lords got new competition from immigrant gangs that wanted a bigger piece of the action. and in the fighting that followed there would be spilled a lot of blood before the situation stabilized itself.

this is director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen debut on the big screen and has formerly mostly been doing commercials and music videos. he says the inspiration for doing this film came from American gangster movies like good-fellas and the godfather and so on. but the strongest reason for why he wanted to do this film was the fact that he himself actually grew up in this environment when he was a kid, so he got first hand knowledge of these things, and a lot of the cast grew up with this as well which helps make the film more authentic.

we follow the life of three friends that grow up in the middle of all this. they are all sons of poor immigrant family's, but they feel Norwegian and expect the same respect that other Norwegians get. but with their poor background there is a long way to go if you want a nice job that pays well. so they decide to take the shortcut to status and respect through the gang East Side Crew which is led by the notorious Sadiq and his brother Khalid...

you will see nothing new in this film that hasn't already been seen before, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. in the action scenes you clearly see the director is widely inspired by john woo in how they play in slow motion and zoom inn on the bullets etc etc. this Action flick is actually quite satisfying to watch, and is well worth a look even for non Norwegians.

The fact that people have not learned that they can not see a Norwegian movie with high expectations is incredible. If you come expecting something good, or great, you should go for a different movie. That said.

As for the acting; there was little to no passion shown by the actors. This however portrays well the environment the "gangsters" come from as well as pre-dating the show from todays date. Poor acting, but it worked in a very weird way.

The retro view on things was quite nice and it really made the experience of the movie into something that I enjoyed.

The story is simple. Gangster, drugs and killing. During most of the film I was having flashbacks from "Menace II Society".

All in all, it felt like reproduction of most gangster movies, put into a new cultural setting and downsizing the actors and cinematography. Decent movie, not great, but over my expectations.

Izzat may be the very first movie from Norway which can be classified as a good movie, not just a "good-to-be-Norwegians"-movie.

Izzat paints an image of Oslo, Norways capital, and its crime-environment in the mid-90's. We follow Wasim and his involvement in Westside Crew, the Pakistanian crime-gang.

What makes this movie extra special, is the realness of it all. Several Pakistanis which are familiar with the crime and the gangs in Oslo, say that the movie is extremely real, with the exception of a few details.

Unfortunately, Izzat has got a few problems with the acting. Both of Wasims friends, and his sister, suffers from bad acting.

The soundtrack however, is outstanding. Typical rock music from the mid-90's, and even better, several Norwegian bands! All in all, if you speak Norwegians, or if this movie is dubbed into English sometime, absolutely one of THE films this year.

After watching this movie, I just thought "what a movie!".

Well - Norwegian directors hasn't been the greatest and cleverest action-movie makers like Spielberg, Roland Emmerich and Peter Jackson. Every time a director tried, the movie failed.

But in 2005, the fresh director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen took, with his movie, a little step for a man but a big step for Movie-Norway.

The actors (Emil Marwa, Elyas Mohammed, et cetera) performs very well in the film. Everything feel so real, so intense.

We meet three Pakistani-Norwegian boys in Oslo, 1984, named Wasim, Riaz and Munawar. Those boys gets involved with the East Side Crew gang. First, there is small jobs like thieving and things like that - after ten years, they become dangerous, hard armed and drug-dealing gangsters.

Applause to Rolfsen and his cast!

Norway is a country where you don't very often see good action movies because of its need in resources and the fact that our directors haven't really had the talent for it. This is definitely an exception where we get to see realistic gun fighting scenes which where shot from the older sections of Oslo city. The movie sets a new standard for Norwegian action movies

Izzat starts out in the Pakistanian gang environment in Oslo in the early 80's and gives a realistic picture on how they played out their role in organized crime. Director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen grew up in the environment and used people he knows in his research for the film and that gives us a very realistic picture on how things where. I really enjoyed it and hope there is more to come !