Sons of Norway
Regardless of your definition of punk, this film offers a worthwhile perspective on the subculture—even when, fittingly, things get a little messy.
SCREENINGS:
Friday, September 9, 9:45 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre 3 (259 Richmond Street West)
Saturday, September 10, 12:45 p.m.
AMC 3 (10 Dundas Street East)
Saturday, September 17, 7 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre 11 (259 Richmond Street West)
The opinion of what punk means seems to vary greatly from punk to punk. To the punk-come-philosophy prof, punk was an amazing movement of youth absorbed in futureless nihilism. To that guy who’s always skipping class, it’s an excuse to make his hair look goofy. The divide between walking the walk and screaming the talk is the subject of Sons of Norway, a vintage-pin-minded throwback to teen Norway punks back in the noisy days, even if the film doesn’t always seem to know that.
Nikolas is 14, and his family is adorably bohemian with a mother who spirit-heals and a father who deflates the youth’s patriarchy bashing… by joining them. Tragically, Nikolas’ mother dies in a car accident, leaving his father a mess and him drifting into his curiosity with the punk scene. At first repulsed and confused by his son’s fuck-all attitude, Magnus, Nikolas’ father, becomes infatuated by the movement and its politics, smothering his son’s new obsession to the point of joining his crappy scrappy band.
There’s a lot of charm in Sons of Norway, even when things get messy. Sven Nordin, as Magnus, is an applaudable father figure, whose strength in quirks and willingness carry much of the movie. But if anything, the film has made us more interested in the book it’s based on, Nikolaj Frobenius’ Theory and Practice, because as this rapidly shifts between chapters in a we-wanted-to-get-this-all-in way, the core ideas become much more interesting than what the movie gives us. It’s hard to gauge what Sons of Norway is saying about punk—it seems to leans towards pointless jest, though that doesn’t stop Johnny Rotten himself from appearing as anarchy’s Santa Claus.