Although this was a light-hearted picture, there is a darker side to this. Think how frequently we hear of teenage suicides brought on by thoughtless bullying. And the American automatic weaponised response to playground taunts and isolation.
As for the girls' attraction to punk, I was reminded of a radio talk I heard recently by Tracey Thorn, in which she said: “Throughout my teens I had battled with ideals of femininity and feeling that I wasn't cut out to be a conventional girlish beauty, I took the other option, embracing the androgyny of punk, the wilful anti-feminine attitudes and fashion that it embodied. This caused me problems at home...” She seized on the feminist classic The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer. "It seemed brand new, and it spoke to me of things I'd long thought and felt without ever having words or names for," she says. She explains how the book was a deep influence on the lyrics she wrote for her band Everything but the Girl. But now she is herself a mother, she finds herself questioning Greer's contemptuous dismissal of parenting. "As feminists, I feel we are more forgiving now than Greer was; more inclusive, less dismissive, and perhaps that's because greater freedoms have brought with them greater liberties for us to be so. It's not such a threat now to admit to being happily married and enjoying motherhood when we are not utterly constrained and defined by these roles."
If you're interested, you can find the (15-minute) talk here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q5gkb
Feedback score was 78%. Audience comments:
| A | |
| A | |
| A | Good gracious! A quirky mix of humour, pathos, tenderness & sheer fun. |
| A | |
| A | Loved it! |
| A | Another excellent example of natural child actors. |
| A | Enjoyed the freshness of it even though the girls were not interested in 'contemporary' music. Well played and well cast; thought the girls seemed really authentic. |
| A | Authentic and entertaining portrayal of teenage anguish. |
| B | They seemed to be having fun. |
| B | Very entertaining. A different view on Sweden |
| B | |
| B | |
| B | Very enjoyable. |
| B | Funny, enjoyable. Long live punk! |
| B | Entertaining voyage with adolescent triplet – some great musical interludes. |
| B | Quirky and entertaining. Another group of amazingly talented youngsters. |
| B | Fun film. |
| B | “You Are The Best.” |
| B | ANARCHIC |
| C | A bit bitty. Nothing much happening. |
| C | MILDLY FUNNY, TOO FRENETIC FOR MY LIKING. |
| C | It was fun |
| C | Growing up in modern society is not so easy for youngsters when family are broken up. They have to rebel and showed their disappointment and that they do exist and have opinions. Well acted by the young stars! |
| C | A nice bit of fun, girls enjoying themselves. 'PUNK IS NOT DEAD'!! |
| D | |
| D | Teenage life in Sweden. A bit funny. |
| D | Noisy, discordant, gave me a headache. |
On-line:
IMDB rating 7.2 out of 10:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2364975/
Rotten Tomatoes. Audience rating 79%
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/we_are_the_best/
Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian (4 stars): “entertaining, good-natured story about young girls in a punk band ”
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/17/we-are-the-best-review
Robbie Collin in the Telegraph (4 stars)“We are the Best, a Swedish coming-of-age comedy from Lukas Moodysson, is gloriously funny ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10771809/We-are-the-Best-film-review.html
Tracey Thorn on The Female Eunuch - “The Book that Changed Me”:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q5gkb
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