One thing I did was watch a Norwegian movie through Scandinavia House's New Nordic Virtual Cinema film festival called Føniks (Phoenix). We're going to talk about it in class. The tired old trope of "artist with mental illness that makes her cruel to her children but maybe not really because they still love her." And oh yeah the father—conveniently for the plot—is about to go to jail for 3 months for drunk driving. Worst of all, it was really dark (as in couldn't see but also story-wise) & they never went outside. What's the point of a Norwegian movie without Norway's beautiful nature? En norsk film uten norsk natur er ikke morsom. Mer seriøst, er jeg lei av tropen om "gal kunst" who er grusom mot barna hennes. Eller gal kunst alene. Alle kunstnere er ikke gale! Og alle mennesker med psykiske lidelser er ikke nødvendigvis grusomme og forsømmelige. Eller er kunstnere.
I am trying to make a distinction between the character in the film & the film's beliefs about her. I have sympathy for her but I feel like she was a cliché.
However!There was one moment when I forgot the movie was in Norwegian, when I was following without translating. It was like the moment when you realize you are riding a bike and not being held up by your dad. (And yeah, I fell over.) Totally worth it.