Firstly, ‘Power play’ (Movie, Tuesday, 18th) It was going to be a serious series. A more or less conventional biographical film (or ‘bioshow’) about the rise to power Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the first woman to become prime minister in Norway. But something has changed. “We didn’t want the powerful to tell their own stories,” says Johan Fasting, co-creator of the series (and before that the acclaimed football drama ‘Home Ground’). “It was important to tell everything from the outside, from the street. We wanted to be anti-authoritarian and criticize the systems of power. In a way we must have been like those anarchists in the seventies who found a camera in the trash and decided to make a series about the Labor Party.“.
That series, its irreverence and jokey character, They fell in love at Canneseries last AprilIt is one of the most important TV series festivals in the world and was deemed worthy of the ‘Power play’ award. highest award and best music award. “But the most curious thing is that, although everything in our series seems ridiculous, 99% of the things we describe actually happened,” Fasting said. he warns.
piece of the puzzle
At the start of the series, in the late 1970s, Labor had been in power for decades but some cracks pointed to structural problems. Signed Gro Harlem Brundtland to correct low female presence (excellent) Kathrine Thorborg Johansen), like a young doctor fighting for abortion rights at that time New Minister of Environment. To the surprise of many, Gro turns out to be a tough politician without a great sense of irony, and begins to be seen as a threat even within the party, especially to his vice-chairman Reiulf Steen (Jan Gunnar Røise), begins to think that it is wrong to open a political path for himself.
Beyond Gro’s individual story, the ‘power play’ is the recent history of the Labor Party and Norwegian social democracy. “It’s just one piece of the puzzle,” Fasting says. “The most interesting thing was describing the evolution of Norwegian labor. This Labor Party of the late seventies is very different to the one we have now. They are proud socialists, clearly on the left; They receive almost 50 percent of the votes in the elections. Compare this to the Labor Party today; In Norway, Britain or somewhere else… What could it be? It turns out that many of the changes that took place during this time gave us the Labor Party and the social democracy we have now.”
Anarchist and anarchist
Was responsible for marking directional patterns Yngvild Sve FlikkeRecalls Oruç, known for the film ‘Ninjababy’, an offbeat (unwanted) pregnancy comedy that “kind of spread anarchy”. As Flikke explained to us, ‘Power play’ is exactly the kind of project he loves to work on and watch as an audience. “I loved how daring the scripts were. The obvious lack of respect for authority they exuded. The whole concept seemed like a lot of fun, and that’s how the preparations evolved. Sometimes you get a script and you immediately start thinking about where to cut.” In this case we were just adding, adding, adding. Always more fun, more craziness.”
According to the dislocated internal logic of the ‘power play’, satirical characters can coexist with non-satirical characters. ANYONE Period elements intersect with current ones: Even though the characters wear clothes from the seventies, the Oslo we see is the Oslo it is today. “And it wasn’t because of budget issues, it was because of real belief. When I read the scripts, it was something that was in the scripts,” says Flikke.
For a biting political satire in mockumentary style, there’s nothing better than reviewing the career of Armando Iannucci, creator of ‘The Thick of it’ and ‘Veep’. Oruç accepts both series as references, but states that they were first and foremost influenced by the film co-directed by Iannucci: ‘In the loop’ is about the chaotic relations between the British prime minister and the US president. deciding to start a war. But the clearest reference for Flikke was this: ’24 hour party people’ by Michael WinterbottomA joyful tale of the Manchester music scene between 1976 and 1992. “It was a matter of attitude,” says the producer. “We wanted to reach young people” Taking that movie as a BR allowed us to reach the level of insanity we needed“. Logical choice.