8/10
A distinct and tragicomic, non-Nordic approach towards refugees
24 November 2016
Recent years have seen unexampled flux of refugees into Europe, but films made of this topics and mainly documentaries or painful feature films dealing with miserable life of asylum seekers in their homeland. But the film in question has totally different setting, providing more realistic views on this issue from both sides - refugees and their hosts.

Being a wealthy country, the problems Norway has to deal with here are definitely different from the southern EU countries, plus there are also people critical to the state asylum policy. On the other hand, in the event of money provided or received, there is also a scam opportunity... All those and many other versatile issues are wittily dealt through several angles, laugh and rue. The pace is not fully even, 1st half or so is more dynamic than the 2nd, but pleasant performances (particularly Anders Baasmo Christiansen as Primus, Slimane Dazi as Zoran and Olivier Mukuta as Abedi) iron out these small deficiencies.

True, for this film, you have to be broad-minded, without strong left or right ideas. Otherwise you may hurt your feelings and/or see the film as a mockery of "high-minded" policies.
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