House of Angels

Last night, I ended up popping a bottle of red and watching a alone. Nik, the poor luben working man, was too exhausted after his five-day marathon in the bank. Did youknow that they don't even get a lunchbreak in the banks. Instead they work half an hour less. But beleive me, If you have ever been in to a Greek bank around noon on a Friday, or a Tuesday for that matter, yes any day of the week, you will understand why a lunch break is the smallest thing to ask for. The scene that meets you might as well be taken from a USSR ration card handout meeting.

Mind you, internet banking is still used very limited and most people do even the most simple transactions through the cashier. And thats where Nik happens to spend his days. In order not to go crazy he is doing his best playing a monkey in the cage. Keeping up a good face.Of course, after a week like that, he´s too tired to watch Bergman movies with me on Friday night then. He´s excused.

Watching Bergman alone however can be as much fun as planning your own funeral. So instead I watched a movie I, in some mysterious way, have been able to avoid for almost 17 years. Yes. it is almost an impossibility this fact. Änglagård, (House of Angels or Angels Farm) came out in 1992, is directed by one of our most famous directors the Anglo- Swede Colin Nutley, stars one of our greatest female actors, Helene Bergström (Nutleys wife). As well as one of our biggest artists and gay-icons Richard Wolff . Not to mention the rest of the star list and the fact that Per Oskarsson only plays a small role. The movie starts with Oskarsson´s character, Erik Zander,
planning his own funeral. Only to be killed accidently the same day. Irony of life.

The movie gained cult status, and a became a tribute to the concept of "SWEDISHNESS". It won two "Golden Rams" (prestigeous film price) and is the Swedish film that has been seeen by most people through all times. My question is:What planet was I on when it came out? How could I have missed it when noone else did?
Sure I have had some surprised comments from people during the years. People have looked at me like I am a social outcast or something. She has´nt seen Änglagård! What a strange human being...

So last night I changed all that. It was all me, a glass of red and a snoring man next to me, and Änglagård. Turned out, as expected, to be a fantastic movie. but instead of describing what is typically Swedish, to me it ended up describing what is typical human. Sure, the accessories where swedish, the blue sky, the yellow rapes in the field, the lake, the flag, the flowers, the birch trees with their white stems, the herring and the dram..but the rest, the people, where just people. The narrow minds of the citizens pictured in Änglagård, describes the narrow-minds of any small community. It describes the very essence of human fear. Fear of the different and the unknown

So the sudden wisdom drawn was. It doesn't mater wether you live in a small agricultural community in Sweden or in an Ionian-seaside village on a Greek island. Human fear of the extraordinary and unknown can take any shape and be expressed in any language.

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