Skövde Nyheter 111205
By: ÅSA MWANSA
REVIEW. This Friday Simon and the Oaks premieres in Skövde. Åsa Mwansa from Skövde Nyheter saw the movie during the film festival in Skara and is not afraid to call the movie version of Marianne Fredriksson’s acclaimed novel a masterpiece.
I haven’t read the book by Marianne Fredriksson, so I can’t comment on the link to it. Simon and the Oaks is an incredibly beautiful movie, both the environments and the photo in itself.
I can’t remind myself that I have seen a Swedish movie that touched me as much. Either my memory is bad or this is a true masterpiece. My memory is pretty okay anyway, so I lean towards the latter.
The story is set during World War II and goes until after the peace, with contemporary environments, in every detail. Then the movie has a depth and a thought that is rare in this era of superficiality. At least as I perceive it. The characters are not flat, one-dimensional characters, but living and humanly incongruous. It´s also obvious that the actors are carefully selected for their respective roles.
Helen Sjöholm has the role of Simon’s mother Karin and her love for her son is felt far out in the movie theater. So does the pain, when everything goes wrong and she cannot reach him. These are some of the feelings that gush over me. Passion, warmth, despair, anger and powerlessness are a few more. The magical feeling of being in the music, being in nature and to be floating away in imagination, is also part of Simon’s world.
The disasters of the war is in the background, but are not clearly explained. What everyone already knows does not need many words to make an impression. Along with several profound life stories, not just the main character’s, this makes a fantastic movie. One that will come to my mind for a long time. And to re-watch.
There was only one thing that was not really credible. That Helen Sjöholm would sing false.
REVIEW
Title: Simon and the Oaks
Premiere: December 9
By: Bill Skarsgård, Helen Sjöholm, Stefan Gödicke, et.al
Directed by: Lisa Ohlin
Running time: 2 hr 2 min
Censorship: 11 years
Rating: + + + +