User reviews

The Polish title translates to "Alien Heaven," irony intended. The alien heaven is Sweden, where a Polish couple with a nine year old daughter live. They are obviously trying hard to make ends meet, in particular to pay the rent for their excessively small and no too confortable flat. They are not integrated in Swedish society and seem to receive a sort of polite, often kind but distant attention from their neighbors. The couple's friends are also immigrants; their best friend is Ukrainian.

The movie deals with the Swedish social services and their (genuine) preoccupation with children not adequately cared for at home. Good intentions abound, but other factors (such as the clash of cultures, the unreliability of neighbor's impressions or the often complicated interpretation of children's answers) cloud the issue.

The movie is not a criticism of Swedish society. It deals with problems that immigrants (and social services) have to face in any country and any society. The script and the direction are austere, unsentimental and evenhanded. Good acting by all concerned. A quality movie.

Davidajgp, my dear Swedish co-watcher of this movie. You conflate "morally superior" with "morally defunct". Your system has no morality nor superiority to it.

Prefixing "morally superior" with "suposedly" is at least disingenuous. It suggests that we are still discussing the exiting system that might be morally superior only if we can assuage our doubts about it. And vanquish its unpleasant, yet unintended, traits that are frequently popping up to the surface, like puss-filled pustules.

The inherently human rights to decide, judge and effect changes, the Swedes have sold en masse to the government. What is so morally superior in that?