Well, having heard about this film in the past few months I just rented it from the local video rental store and I must say that I'm very torn, as to what I feel about this film. There are very positive sides to it, but unfortunately also some negative sides.
Let me start off with the negativity first, to get it out of the way.
This film is a clear example of a new directors debut feature, a lot of technical mistakes is made. Calling the director a debuting director may sound strange to some, but he produced adult films for 17 years before he decided to quit the business and produce serious films instead. It is painfully clear that he have underestimated the art of film making, you'll see what I mean when/if you see this film - I truly think he should have spend more time in the pre-production faze and thought it out more. I sincerely hope he learned a lot of things from this production, considering the fact that he is - according to IMDb - planning more futury films. (I'm quite positive about those films though, this film still showed a lot of potential!!!)
NOW - the positive sides; There is a very touching story behind it all. Muhammed is a second generation immigrant living in the ghetto of Vollsmose (one of the most feared ghettos in the entire Denmark, and the film is also shot here!). He wants to get out of the criminal environment in which he has been living and it works just fine for him, he's got a job and is really on the right path. His best friend, Johnny, however, who is a white male, has a tendency to mess it all up for both himself and his friends - Muhammed included. Even though a social worker named Pedersen does his best to help Johnny, whose girlfriend Sussi is pregnant, he keeps messing up and dragging Muhammed down with him, so Muhammed has to take a stand once and for all.
It is a very nice story, happily free of stereotypes and ugly clichés. Every actor in the film - both the professional ones and the "real" ones from the Vollsmose-area - does a beautiful job (apart from overacting by Gry Bay). The only negative thing here is that I think the director should have done a more solid job of introducing the characters into the story.
Amar El-Khatib who plays Muhammed is very convincing and it's hard to believe he never received any acting training prior to this film. He lives in Vollsmose and the story is in many ways about himself. The film even contains some quite disturbing video footage of him as a child, but it would spoil too much revealing more about it here.
I truly advice people to see this film, but you have to be able to live with some technical problems during the film - it is however worth it, if you can manage not to focus too much on the problems but turn your focus to the story!
7/10
