NORWAY: Izzat. 2005

Director: Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen
Stars: Emil Marwa, Ove Andreassen, Leon Israr Bashir, Danish Kahn, Shaheen Khan.
Release date: Norway - 7 Oct 2005
Length: 107 mins

I'm all about Scandinavian films these days. Some of the best world cinema is coming from those countries, but you'd probably not know it...because it never gets much of a look in. If only I didn't have to end up buying them on DVD. Thank the stars for film festivals. This tough looking film seems to follow on from the recent flick Uno. It was also set in Oslo, had young protaganists & featured Pakistanis as gangsters. The word is that the young Norwegians seem proud that they are making some more visceral type of films that indirectly address the new social climate in their country. Or at least making films that are bolder & more interesting than the safe ones they reckon they make.

Synopsis
Wasim grows up as a normal Pakistani boy in Oslo in the eighties. Together with his two best buddies at the same age - Riaz and Munawar - he is dreaming of becmoing just as tough and successful as the Indian Bollywood stars. This dream does not remotely resemble Wasim's everyday reality. At home, Daddy is absent because of work almost around the clock, and his mother, who has never learnt Norwegian, is easily deceived. Consequently, Wasim and his two friends drop ouot of school, and when they meet the leaders of the criminal gang East Side Crew, they finally find justice, respect and success within this brotherhood. But will it last…

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