The Slingshot
The Slingshot (original title: Kådisbellan) is a Swedish coming of age movie from 1993, directed by Åke Sandgren. It is based on the autobiographic novel Kådisbellan by Roland Schütt (1913-2005), a Swedish inventor.
The movie has often been compared to "My Life as a Dog" (Mitt liv som hund, 1985, another autobiographical Swedish movie about the coming of age of a twelve-year-old boy) and "Europa Europa" (1990).
Synopsis
The 12-year-old protagonist Roland Schütt (Jesper Salén) has a tough childhood growing up in a Stockholm suburb in the 1920s. His mother, Zipa, is a Russian-Jewish emigree and his father, Fritiof, is a chronically unemployed, radical revolutionary socialist. Roland ("Rolle") is socially isolated and has to struggle for self-identity in a time of violent political repression and anti-Semitism.
His older brother Bertil, who is forced by his father to become a boxer, uses Roland as a 'punching bag' and regularly breaks his nose. Because of Roland's parentage, he also gets bullied and beaten by other boys who call him a "dirty Jew". His bigoted and anti-Semitic school teacher abuses him verbally and physically.
Roland's mother is a freethinker who promotes birth control and starts to sell condoms, which were illegal at the time in Sweden. These inspire Roland to make, and sell, inventions such as "Underwater Socks," "Balloons with Knobs," and his best invention, a condom-based slingshot.
The spanking scene
Roland's teacher punishes him for trying to sell condom-slingshots at school (M/B bare bottom spanking). Later his father exhibits the scars to the entire family by lifting his son's nightshirt.
The film also contains nudity in some other scenes.
See also
- Fanny and Alexander
- Kådisbellan (film) on Wikipedia (in Swedish)
Links
- Review The Slingshot at the Internet Movie Database
- Review
- Another review
- Another review
- Movie trailer
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