Nice People

This is a tender, heartwarming documentary on the importance of integration of immigrants into their new country. In the film, Somali refugees living in a remote village in Sweden are seen in a poor light by native Swedes. To better integrate them, some caring people decide to teach several Somalis how to play Bandy (like hockey but with a ball and played on a frozen soccer field) in the hopes of getting them to play in the world championships representing Somalia. This fish-out-of-water story has many parallels to the Jamaican Bobsled team story. The Somalis have never skated in their lives. They have to be taught the finer points of skating and playing the game in a relatively short 7 months. Will they be good enough to be accepted by the International Bandy Federation? Will they learn enough to get them to the world Championships in time? Will they even score a goal or will it be a series of crushing defeats? The whole reason they are playing is to give them a sense of purpose and bring them closer to their Swedish neighbors. As one of the captions in the film states "Some genius must have thought way out of the box." The Somalis are never ridiculed by the filmmakers (even though their first experiences on skates are predictably humorous). You sense that everyone behind this unusual project is 100% behind the team and it shows. A central figure is Patrik Andersson who is their "fixer" basically getting the media involved as well as getting sponsors on board and fixing whatever problems come along. This is a great documentary that tells a touching story and is a must-see. I give it 8 Bandy sticks out of 10.