Weihnachten mal anders

Funny view on culture crash between Norway and the outside world.

Remember that there are only 5 million Norwegians, and Jul and May 17 are days where we are focused on our traditions. Our ways are a bit strange.

Jashan is representing the outside world. Nothing to do with his nationality specifically.

As a Norwegian I felt this made me think of how hung up we are on our traditions.

25% of our population migrated to USA in the late 1800s. For those left it was a crisis and the national romanticism started in Norway. Bunad, Jul tradition and more were important when rebuilding our nation's self esteem.

The cultural clash awaits as newly engaged Jashan and Thea fly to Norway to her family for celebrating Christmas. She hasn't informed her family about Jashan being an Indian, not even his full name and she wants to have a perfect Christmas celebration to find the right time to break the announcement. But his family is not nice towards Jashan with her ex boyfriend living next door to make couple of crucial moments complicated and she doesn't think preparing Jashan or giving him an heads up was necessary. Will she have her Christmas and save her love story forms rest of the story.

It's the age old love story of two people from different parts of the world, falling in love and one of them trying to fit into the world of the other. The problem is how one toned the characters are, giving little chance to empathize with any of them. Things keep getting hard for Jashan and what follows next was intended to be funny but it did not evoke any laughter. Limited India to the population count and spicy food was also not in good taste. Now characters can be self centered, but the narrative has to be balanced which wasn't the case here. This just didn't give enough to root for Thea as the film only succeeded in making me feel sad and sad for Jashan.

Why would you pack a kurta while travelling to Norway for Christmas?

"Så var det jul igjen" is an outstanding film that demands to be seen in its original language. This Norwegian movie brilliantly navigates the complexities of Christmas traditions, presenting them in a light that is both humorous and insightful. The film introduces a cultural shock that, contrary to initial expectations, is remarkably believable and well-executed. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I laughed, having braced myself for a cliché and uninspiring holiday movie. Instead, what I found was a delightful blend of wit and charm that breathes new life into the often predictable genre of Christmas films. This movie is a hidden gem that deserves a wider audience.

Jashan is over the top obnoxious as is most of this cast. Everyone is so flat, or uninteresting, or just mean. Jashan is like a bull in a china shop, he is wholly self unaware, doesn't bring much to the table. Nothing likable about his overbearing character. I was rooting for the girl to dump him. The Norwegian family is wholly inflexible and just not likable at all from the start. There is no chemistry between the two main characters. This may be technically a Christmas movie, but there is no warmth or real affection, especially at the end of the movie where they try to wrap it into a nice little funny love fest package, but it fails miserably. They could have called this Skunk, because-yes it's a stinker. Could have been better, writing was awful.

He certainly annoyed me, she perhaps wasn't perfect either but you don't cook in someone's home without asking, and speaking loudly outside a church when people are inside !

I did see it through to the end but it wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't.

Everyone's culture is different and I don't feel he embraced hers either. He comes across arrogant expecting people to like him although he's pushy.

I wish there had been an update at the end to tell us what happened in real life as this is based on fact ! Did they marry and live happily ever after and are they still married?

I won't be telling my friends its a film they must see !