We usually watch one movie on DVD every weekend together with our children (three girls - 5, 8 and 10 yrs) with an ambition to avoid mass consumption and instead actively experience the movie together and also give it some afterthought. I probably wouldn't have even heard of this movie unless I had stumbled upon it at the municipal library. It looked promising so I borrowed it and yesterday we watched it. Afterwards we concluded that this was one of the best movies we had ever watched together, and we have seen well over 100 movies over the last 3-4 years. Even though the movie is full of humor and absurdities, we felt that this movie takes its audience very seriously and in that strongly contrasts from the range of movies that get 99% of the media and marketing attention. Even though the story about little Tinke who lost both her parents and is trying to find her mothers family is straightforward and easy to follow, almost every scene leaves openings for afterthought even for small children. Evil and good is not trivialized into black and white, and the perspective changes through the film. Tinke's own strong will make all the difference in the ending and it doesn't follow the standard Cinderella plot. Laurus role in the end is left quite open, and one might ask what happened to Harald and his parents.
Photography, lighting and staging follow a Nordic tradition and though I'm no expert in this area, it makes me think of Sven Nyqvist and Astrid Lindgren.
How many movies like this are lurking out there, being over shadowed by the massive marketing of ultra commercial sugar sweet mainstream blockbusters? This movies has certainly inspired me to spend some time trying to find more movies produced in e.g. Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the Nordic Countries - and certainly also non Hollywood U.S. productions.
Tinke is highly recommended!
