The Slingshot (film)

The Slingshot

VHS cover
Directed by Åke Sandgren
Written by Åke Sandgren
Roland Schütt (novel)
Starring Jesper Salén
Stellan Skarsgård
Basia Frydman
Frida Hallgren
Ernst-Hugo Järegård
Axel Düberg
Reine Brynolfsson
Cinematography Göran Nilsson
Distributed by Nordisk Film (Denmark)
Svenska Filminstitutet (Sweden)
Release dates
  • 24 September 1993 (1993-09-24)
Running time
 102 minutes
Country Sweden
Language Swedish
Box office $309,117 (USA)

The Slingshot (Swedish: Kådisbellan) is a 1993 Swedish drama film, starring Jesper Salén, Stellan Skarsgård and Basia Frydman. Directed by Åke Sandgren, the film was based on Roland Schütt's 1989 autobiographical novel of the same name (translates to "The Condom Slingshot").

Plot

Roland (Salén) is the 12-year-old son of a Russian Jewish mother (Frydman) and a socialist father (Skarsgård), coming of age in 1920s Stockholm. Due to his family's background, he has become an outcast to those around him, a constant target of bullying by his peers, and often humiliated and physically punished by a sadistic schoolteacher (Ernst-Hugo Järegård) in front of classmates. In retaliation against his tormentors, Roland steals condoms from his mother's tobacco shop inventory and turns them into crude slingshot weapons. He also falls in love with a neighborhood girl (Frida Hallgren), but as Roland attempts to toughen up and improve his troubled life, he also allies with the wrong group of friends and inadvertently makes himself a juvenile offender.

Cast

Reception

The Danish-Swedish production has an 89% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1] AllMovie critic Clarke Fountain called the film an "affectionate, richly detailed portrait",[2] while film critic James Berardinelli gave the film three and a half out of four stars and called it "a wonderful mix of tragedy, humor, and triumph." [3] Conversely, the Washington Post had an unfavorable view of the movie and called the story "a catalogue of catastrophes that surely left the real protagonist with many emotional scars."[4]

At the 29th Guldbagge Awards the film won the award for Best Film.[5] Åke Sandgren was nominated for both Best Director and Best Screenplay, while Basia Frydman was nominated for Best Actress.[5]

The film was the Swedish submission to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but did not make nomination.[6][7][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2 "Kådisbellan (1993)". Swedish Film Institute. 23 March 2014.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  8. ↑ Frook, John Evan (30 November 1993). "Acad inks Cates, unveils foreign-language entries". Variety. Retrieved 25 August 2008.

External links

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