My top five films at SXSW this year included Uncle Jens, a standout from the hundreds shown at the Film and TV Festival. Director Brwa Vahabpour debuted the film internationally; it opens in Norway next week.
It played at AFS Cinema, the town’s last indie movie theatre inside the Linc Shopping Mall by ACC. it was difficult for out-of-town festival attendees to reach as SXSW didn’t offer any buses or transportation to the venue. Sitting to the left of me was a film critic from Atlanta and to my right a British woman, both complained about this. Maybe next year they’ll find another solution.
Now on to the plot.
Akam’s (Peiman Azizpour) estranged uncle Kdhr (the Kurdish name for Jens, played by Hamza Agoshi) from the Iranian part of Kurdistan surprises him at home, which is the basic premise. Despite limited space in his shared flat with flatmates Pernille (Theresa Frostad Eggesbø), Stian (Magnus Lysbakken), Akam feels obligated to invite his uncle to stay for a few days. However, his uncle rapidly makes himself at home, showing no desire to depart. Akam senses more to his uncle’s visit than meets the eye, caught between family duty and mounting tension at home. A chain of surprising events and revelations will follow, potentially altering their lives forever.
The contrast between Norwegian and Kurdish cultures, and the actor’s superb portrayal of Akam, placed him between two worlds. One could say he was a coward or more confused in terms of what sort of reaction should he have? When he found out why his uncle visited him, a combination of both guilt and maybe even pride to help him washed over him. I will not reveal anymore, no spoiler alerts.
We learn that Akam’s father was a brave resistance fighter who gave his life for the cause, but how did that spill over to Akam, if at all? His mother raised him in Norway, and both were more “Norwegian” than Kurdish, or so it seemed. Yet the main character showed a fear of getting caught up in something beyond his control.
The entire story is a Catch 22.
Although their cultures are vastly different and irreconcilable, Uncle Jens and Akam transcend those differences to, by the end of the film, form a meaningful bond. Although Akam, raised in Norway, speaks Kurdish (although not as fluently as his uncle would like), he’s not completely at ease with the customs and expectations placed upon him. The uncle’s interactions with Europeans are superficial, using the term “blondies,” while he avoids acknowledging his strange behavior, something Akam and his roommates find perplexing.
Akam shows himself to be a tender and sensitive man, to his girlfriend and to his uncle. So many moments in this 98-minute film were poignant yet downright funny. One of Akam’s students, also of Kurdish descent, is non-communicative and despondent. Akam figures out why, then proposes the class to write a fairy tale. This boy reads it aloud to the class, having never took part before. His goat story contains many cuss words and hip-hop F U slang. Yet the message is a breakthrough for him and for Akam on many levels. The film is the first feature for both Peiman Azizpour and Hamza Agosh, who did an outstanding job conveying authentic emotions of their respective characters.
Photo: Peiman Azizpour
See the trailer here: