The Riot

This Norwegian movie is so important 110 years later. The message is needed, and the story is well told, it looks good. Well invested 1,7h no matter political views. No problems with the language with subtitles.

Told in a time when Nordic people still were going to America to fulfill their dreams, the land of possibilities. Far from everyone succeeded. In this true story we can see the end of an era when the workers rioted the American way and the emigration ended. This is a good reminder what happens when the rich elite doesn't listen to their workers. My thoughts goes to elon musk and their fight to unite Tesla workers, the longest conflict in the Nordic in 80 years.

Well, the unusual narrative concerning miners union organisation, together with a solid performance by always excellent Simon J. Berger (Exit 2019) is what pulls the rating upwards. Unfortunately, as a film, it has the feeling of being made from a small budget, with more patos than know-how. The story evolves around a youngling, being sold as a slave from Sweden to Norway. He eventually finds his way to a mine, through series of events, haphazardly told. An A for effort for telling this untold story from a working class perspective about early days of struggle, agitation, and unity. A must see if you are a fan of working class authors like Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinsson. Or ever listened to The Ghost of Tom Joad.

I have to set things right: This is not a good movie. There is no alternative way to judge this rather low-budget movie, sorry. The storytelling is superficial, I would describe it as beeing perhaps on a teenager level. If you have seen any movies before this in your life you will be dumbfounded by just too many shake'n bake stereotypes that populate the movie. The plot shows much of the same problems. Not worked through enough. The cinematography is also not up to standard but that is perhaps due to needed efforts to mask over the low budget sceneries/backdrops. Plastic snow, studio ambiance like in 60's productions, etc. Some characters are overacted but that probably also comes from the script, not the actors. I suppose it was cheap to produce and sometimes that is the job. Just churn it out to specs and minimal budget and move on. Director Gaup has a long career and made some excellent movies but this is at best average.

Emotional, visually striking and historically important, this is a move that most people should see and I believe would love watching. I was taken on an emotional roller coaster and I really loved the cinematography. Many visual reminders to some of the best old western movies. I was at the edge of my seat for much of the movie.

It was even more amazing being able to meet Nils Gaup himself after the movie and hear his thoughts and comments. It took Gaup and his team 14 years to make this movie.

In short: Watch it! And tell your friends to watch it.

How many more characters do I need to be allowed to post this review? One more sentence?