Watch What Will People Say For Free

Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely brilliant

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a haunting story of a young woman seeking a balance between love for her family and her desire to live a normal life in her adopted country. In telling the story of Nisha, an immigrant walking the cultural tightrope between her Pakistani heritage and her home outside of Norway's capital, the film is a strong, unblinking statement about the imminent savagery still menacing women and girls who won't conform to the imported, conservative cultural values and behaviours their parents strive to maintain, amid the economic benefits they want from affluent liberal modernity.

"Hva vil folk si" or "What Will People Say" is a new Norwegian movie that premiered in 2017 already and managed a solid amount of awards recognition already and I truly hope a lot will follow. Writer and director of these 105 minutes is Iram Haq and her name already gives away vaguely the direction this film is going to take. There is not too much Norwegian in here except the boyfriend early on perhaps. This is the story of a Muslim teenager stuck between modern age-appropriate life and the bodns that come with her religion. When she gets caught with her boyfriend by her conservative father, he and her brother abduct her and take her back in the country of her forefathers where she is supposed to find out about the core values of who she is. Or I should say who everybody else wants her to be. It is really tragic. This film is not scared at all of depicting taboos and it is all very shocking. The abduction scene is one example. Another is the constant physical and psychological violence brought upon the poor young woman. It's a journey of suffering. And the status quo in the country where she is abducted too really made me shiver. The scene with the officers is particularly shokcing really when also an element of sexual abuse comes into play. Heartbreaking stuff how she is punished again and again for thing she did not even do and even if she did it would have been something girls her age do when they feel affection, maybe even love, for somebody else. Another less drastic, but equally sad moment was when she listens to the conversation between her dad and the boy's dad and the boy himself because it seems she really likes him, but of course he is also unable to break through and stand up to her and go against his dad. There is nobody supporting her in her life. And tha last chapter with the forced marriage and her basically being sent to Canada where she will have nothing in her life other than an existence as a (house)wife and mother to a not particularly handsome doctor and his future children. This is the moment that her father realizes how wrong he ahs been, at least to some extent and it's finally the first time he lets her go at the very end, which is as close to a happy end the film can get while still managing to stay realistic. Sure you could ask if it feels authentic that he watches while doing nothing when she runs away with all he did before, especially the potential suicide scene, but I let him get away with that because the one area where he always wanted his daughter to be happy was when it came to her dreams in the world of jobs and professions. And after all, he did not have the power to kill her himself, not even close. He was suffering a lot at the same time too. I actually really liked that the last shot of the film was on his face and not on the daughter as it showed how he stays back and she may be on her way into a hopefully happier life and world at that point. A great cast overall and a huge thumbs-up to Maria Mozhdah, who is a scene stealer in every scene from start to finish and may have a very bright career ahead of her. Same thumbs up to woman filmmaker Haq for her bold and painfully real depiction here. She is not willing to make things right. There is no emotional ending with the family unrealistically loving and hugging the daughter out of nowhere. It would have been a joke actually with the mother saying shortly before that that she wishes Nisha would never have been born. A film that is painful to watch because of how good it is and how close it is to the truth. I would not be surprised at all if this story happed to 100s, maybe 1000 Nishas out there who eventually ended up stuck in an unhappy (for them) marriage. Highly highly recommended,one of 2017's very best movies. Some gerat talent involved here. An absolute must-see.

*** Spoiler alert ***I normally shy away from Norwegian-made movies, because they tend to be bad. But this movie makes me, as a Norwegian, proud again. The father who thought he was doing the correct thing, and then, in the end realized that he had failed miserably, actually made me cry. I think this is one of the best movies ever made with "Norway" stamped in the corner. Although it has nothing to do with Norway, except that the brillant director and main actress live here. I totally take my hat off for you, Iram Haq and Maria Mozhdah!

I was forced to watch this with my school, as a film interested person i had high hopes. False hopes, i do not understand why people in Norway liked it so much why do they praise bs like this? It was empty and the subject is so overused, if we want more international success we have to create more inspiring, entertaining movies. Instead of this lame awful dull trash, that they force us to see.