Sharp view of teenage alienation

Review of Dom kallar oss mods (1968) movie, by Stefan Stenudd

I was 14 when this movie premiered, in the tumultuous year of 1968. It immediately impressed me as a very accurate portrayal of teens alienated by society's materialism, frustrated by the prospect of one day having to conform.

Stefan Jarl, a director of great integrity, follows two teens, Kenta and Stoffe, through their everyday life, which is Bohemian indeed. Nothing much happening, not much of a plot, more like a documentary - I guess that to a large extent it is. Still, it is fascinating. Jarl manages to capture their sentiments, their world view, and how it provokes society.

Although the 60's are long gone, my guess is that teens of any decade can relate to this movie. Those who have left their teen years far behind, should use this movie as a revisit. We should never dismiss the thoughts and feelings we had when young, or the world will quickly become a ruin.

Jarl made a follow-up movie, A Decent Life, eleven years later, returning to Kenta and Stoffe, and what their lives had become. Again in 1993, in The Social Contract.

Stefan Stenudd
11 January 2003