"To the children of the misfits" "What the hell is that?" "Here come the normals!" "The toilers, the toilers Are funny little things!" "Tail-less and earless and..." "This is stupid." "Scram!" "It wasn't just Kenta, Stoffe and myself. lt was so much more." "Stefan, I have some quite important things to tell you." "This is Arne." "You can ring me any time, day or night." "Take care." "Say hi to the family." "It's me." "Lena." "I'm sick of your bloody harassment." "There won't be any trilogy." "Hell!" "You can take those films of yours and fuck off." "If you don't stop harassing me and my family and friends you'll get into trouble." "I promise you." "Greetings from Stoffe's wife." "I was married to Stoffe actually." "He's dead now." "He died on March 22, 1978." "Both my son's father and his uncle are dead." "Don't interfere with me and my family again." "You fucking asshole!" "I hate you, Stefan Jarl." "You're just a dirty old man." "I've realized there's something wrong with me." "But I want to live a few more years." "My pancreas is ruined." "When I was in hospital they said to me:" ""Lay off the liquor and all that or you won't live long."" "But I drank a lot. I feel bad." "I want to know what's going on." "If I'm in a bad way I want to stay here and get well." "I don't want to die yet." "I'm too young for that." "I knew it would be difficult." "When Stoffe died I thought I'd leave town and drop it all." "But something kept me there:" "I very much wanted to see the next generation grow up." "I think that was it." "I..." "Both my parents were alcoholics." "I should be, but it's in check." "Many people have said:" ""Carina will amount to nothing." "She'll end up like her parents."" "That won't happen." "I'll always fight against it." "If any of my close friends were on the wrong track l'd do anything to help them." "It a mess otherwise." "Misfits to Yuppies" "The final part of a trilogy." "A film by Stefan Jarl." "Kenta also had children, just like Stoffe." "But now I find him in a small flat in Jacobsberg." "What...?" "A summons...?" "What the hell is this?" ""Unlawfuly consumed alcoholic beverages."" "The bastards can take a running jump!" "This is too much!" "September 1 , 1986." "Gustavsson consumed alcoholic beverages in Torner Park in breach of the Public Order Act." "All right!" "I ought to fight this." "Fine Canary tomatoes." "Cheap!" "Ten Kronor per kilo." "Nobody else sells as cheaply." "Here you are!" "Cheap!" "Do you admit or deny it?" "Both yes and no." "I drank in the park, but I didn't drink illegally." "What did you drink?" "Cider. lt's made from apples." "You can drink it in public." "l assume you deny the charge." "I do." "Canary tomatoes!" "Cheap for rich and poor alike!" "We were on patrol in Jakobsberg." "We saw Gustavsson drinking." "You saw him drinking from a distance of about 75 metres." "You saw that it was a can or a bottle." "Could you see from 75 metres if there was beer or cider in the bottle?" "I can't say, but Mr Gustavsson never drinks cider." "You don't know what I drink!" "Just a moment." "He's prejudiced towards me!" "This must be sorted out." "These are bloody lies!" "He's telling bloody lies!" "The witness is on oath..." "He's telling lies!" "You may say that it's lies." "You have described it one way the witness has described it his way and the court decides." "I'm being persecuted!" "And another thing... I demand to be heard!" "Kenta and his son Patrik in "A Respectable Life", 1979" "Granny said you ate pancakes every Saturday." "I loved them when I was your age." "That's where l helped uncle Tage get in the hay with the tractor." "Was he young then?" "Yeah." "He was maybe 45 or so." "Wouldn't you like to live here?" "No!" "You'd grow strong here." "Better than concrete surroundings." "Nature is all around you here." "You could stroll at leisure, nobody telling you what to do." "No?" "You're a city boy, my lad." "DO NOT TOUCH THE FOLDERS" "The purpose of this is to see how suitable you are for active service." "N.B.: active service." "Basic training is just a part of this." "Your ability to do your duty in wartime is what counts." "Lindholm, Stefan Alf." "Yes." "Gustavsson, Kennet Patrik." "Yes." "Bertelsen, Johan Erik." "Yes." "Come on!" "Give it stick!" "You got 350." "That's average." "You'll need to do better." "Go for it!" "This is war." "You're going to fire this rifle." "Hold it like this and aim for my eye." "Come on!" "This is war." "Fine." "Next." "He wants to see if you're a killer." "God, what a lot!" ""The court's verdict is as follows:"" ""Jansson was at least 50 metres from Gustavsson" "when he saw him drinking."" ""As the witness was uncertain" "if he saw a can or a bottle" "the witness might have mistaken" "the container drunk from by Gustavsson." Awful Swedish!" ""Given Gustavsson's denial, it is not proven that he drank" "alcoholic beverages as defined by the Public Order Act."" ""The case is therefore dismissed."" "What a gas!" "1 - 0 to Kenta!" "What's all this?" "It's some old charge that I admitted." "Where's the verdict?" "Here it is." ""Appeal against the verdict..." What the hell...?" ""Case dismissed." l'm acquitted in other words." ""Verdict: case dismissed."" "What a gas!" "The cops can take a running jump!" "What a blast!" "This is great!" "I'll read this a hundred times." "I'll celebrate by drinking beer in the park!" "What a gas!" "Then they can really get me!" "I'll hang this up." "The cop was born in '55." "He could have been my son!" "I'd have given him a thick ear for this!" "What a hoot!" "That's it." "I'll give you a plaster." "Tell the next one to come in." "Patrik Gustavsson." "Yes." "Welcome." "Thank you." "What's your number?" "690330-0379." "You are in perfect health." "Your strength and fitness is average." "Your vision and hearing are normal." "You'll be joining the ranks." "You won't be commissioned." "Where do you want to go?" "Waxholm." "Why?" "lt's great." "ls it great there?" "lt would be fun." "When do you want to enlist?" "As soon as possible." "What's the choice?" "You serve longer in the Navy." "lt doesn't matter." "Let's see then." "You were born in May." "You could maybe join up in 1989." "ls it on?" "Yes, you can start." "I applied to study motor mechanics." "I dreamt of being an aircraft mechanic." "But it was hopeless. I didn't have high enough grades." "So I applied for machine technology." "I soon realized it wasn't for me." "I did it so I had a qualification." "Meanwhile, I applied for special courses and was accepted." "But I still wasn't sure if it was what I wanted to do so I said I'd wait and see." "Now I've decided I don't want to be a mechanic." "It's an aptitude you're born with." "That's how it is." "You finished the course but weren't sure what to do." "Well...you could say that." "I didn't want a boss yelling at me." "That's how I felt when I was a trainee for a month." "They're just not my kind of people." "What do you want?" "To wear ordinary clothes!" "I want things to be laid back." "I don't want customers screaming at you about cylinder heads." "I want things more laid back." "I'd rather sell things than have complaints about my work." "They usually say: "We're not satisfied with this and that."" "Customers want perfection." "It's expensive to have your car or truck or bus done so they make demands and you have to be good, I think." "I lost touch with Eva, Patrik's mother." "She moved to Bålsta a suburb north of Stockholm." "We hadn't seen each other for a long time." "When I met her again, she had just made the decision of her life." "You're so bloody stupid and strange!" "Why do you say that?" "Because you are!" "How?" "You're whacko." "Take it easy." "One day you really like me, the next day you couldn't care less." "It's your imagination." "Take last Friday: you went with Henrik." "Don't you talk!" "You were with them and Lena." "l was with Gunilla." "Please don't shout." "The hardest thing about prison was actually being locked up." "You can't get away from the fact that you're a prisoner." "It was all black outside the window." "I might as well have been on an island in China." "You felt shut in?" "l felt the loss of freedom." "Being there wasn't so bad." "But you weren't master of your fate." "You couldn't do anything yourself. lt was done for you." "Things have gone well here." "My little shop gave me a living." "Everything was okay until last summer:" "People couldn't afford things any more." "VAT on everything!" "Electricity went up 300 a month." "That was just the electricity!" "It was hopeless." "I've been looking for a country store for sale." "They cost the same as this house." "An acquaintance had a suitable house." "We went and had a look." "Kenta came along." "We decided to take it." "I've been pretty much on my own out here." "It's too dull." "I've felt lonely." "Can you take this in the cab?" "I don't care about the rest, but don't leave this behind." "Your brother can play for you." "He's a real rocker!" "She sold the house and I quit my job." "If it doesn't work out, I'll have to become a farm-hand!" ""Got any work for an old bum?"" "Seriously though, I'm through with beer and all that." "That's why I'm going along with it. lt's ideal for me." "Instead of ending up in an institution, I can be with Eva." "You could see that Stoffe's mum was an alky and that Kenta's mum was a bit of a lush." "Kenta and Stoffe booze every day. lt's not on." "If you're young it's bloody easy to become an alcoholic." "Do you think you'll be okay?" "No." "Don't you?" "No." "What will you do about it?" "Nothing." "Why should I?" "Might you not end up in a bad way?" "Sure, but only if I want it that way." "Doesn't it worry you?" "Not at all. I'm counting on it." "Sure, getting pissed isn't such fun either." "It's the pits." "Either I try to give it up either lay off or I carry on." "It's make or break." "I've still got a lot to give." "I'm not finished yet." "I'm still strong." "I still enjoy life." "I have a damn good time as well." "I had to make a lot of the decisions." "I soon learned what life was about." "I'd seen a lot in my childhood:" "alcoholics and how they live." "I have also seen how ordinary Swedes live." "I had to look after myself for the first six years of my life." "It's been good." "It's made me strong." "Jerks!" "You can carry on living here!" "Bloody scumbags!" "I'm leaving!" "Great!" "Blekinge, here I come!" "You can stick it up your ass!" "We're heading south to grow cotton!" "Eva-Lena Blondin." "Spelt the way it sounds!" "The address is Ronnebyvägen." "What a lot of crap they've left behind!" "It's a wooden floor!" "Eva!" "Eva!" "Yes?" "It's a wooden floor up here." "I thought there was only one downstairs." "We can varnish it." "Great!" "What floors!" "Here I am in Hallabro" "'Cos I've got nowhere else to go" "Not that I'll be earning money" "That's the last thing I need, honey" "What the hell have we done now?" "Well, we're in A new place anyhow" "Thinking we're The tops round here" "Cheers on your 40th birthday!" "You're the best in this village." "Well, now I'm forty." "What the hell have we done?" "Do you think we can hack this?" "Take it easy, Kenta." "If you paint, wallpaper and renovate, I'll fix the rest." "l'll get the café going." "l'm right behind you." "Don't worry. I've done the sums." "It'll be all right." "Have a flower." "Thank you." "Merry Christmas!" "'Cos we're much stronger than you think" "We'll fix it all tonight" "I grabbed myself by the scruff of my neck." "People who lived in the country helped me." "They believed in me." "They got me to believe in myself." "I knew I had resources. I didn't know they were so great." "I've been sober for three years." "I've got a steady job for the first time since Stoffe and I worked for the Post Office in '66." "Kenta was with us then as well." "I've become a tax-paying member of society." "About time too when you consider what I've cost society." "I've seen what it's like for the older guys." "They've shot up their dope and their heroin." "They don't seem to be doing so well." "Why should I let that drag me down?" "Liquor is enough." "You know how hard it is." "Liquor or beer, it's bad enough being an alcoholic." "You've got to live with it and I've learnt how to do that." "Others think I have as well." "Are you an ordinary Swede now?" "Those are harsh words!" "Rather that than a misfit at any rate." "I respected ordinary Swedes. I just didn't know how they could stand it." "I do now." "There are other things in life than messing about." "About turn!" "Forward march!" "There's nothing I hate more than racists and niggers!" "Hi!" "Kenta, he's here." "Hi, how are you?" "How was the journey?" "You're way out in the sticks." "Sticks?" "This is a metropolis!" "Are you hungry?" "Just a little." "Hi!" "The soldier is home!" "Welcome." "This will be your room for now." "You can choose one later." "Okay?" "This is my room here." "Mum is close at hand then." "Dad did all this, did he?" "He's very capable." "Did he do the wallpaper too?" "Yes, he varnished the floors, painted and so on." "There's another room here." "ls this the one you'll let?" "That's right." "Good!" "Did he do this floor?" "Yes." "There are seven rooms." "Really?" "There's one left." "Granny came and helped us and Mum went into hospital." "I couldn't manage." "I was only 13 or so." "Mum went into hospital and Gran took my brother home with her." "I had to manage as best I could." "I was with some girls and I ate at their mum's house." "She was nice, their mum." "When I came home from school... I had to do my homework in the woods." "They were always drinking and fighting and screaming at home." "I remember there were commotions at times." "You repress it: my life was with mum and that side of the family." "You repress the bad times." "I met Dad so seldom." "He was quite calm then." "He still is, in fact." "He's quite calm really." "I don't remember all that much." "I had my friends at school." "I played football a lot." "I played until I was 18 or 19." "Sport was my thing really." "I'd have liked to have had a dad who was there all the time since that was how it was for my friends." "The few times I've really been with him he's been pretty calm." "When I was going to move to Umeå to try my luck as a salesman my mother was hysterical, he was calm." "Whatever I've done, he's always been sure that I'd manage it." "My mother was always unsure." "It's been harder for her." "My father has been more calm in that respect." "We've had disagreements." "It's normal that things get fraught between father and son." "I've had it easier than him:" "I've had a family, as it were." "Things were calmer for me than they were for him." "Where shall I go?" "I don't know where" "Why, my friend, Did it end this way?" "When you know I love you Come what may I moved home to my old mother" "I live with her and my only brother" "The two of you I'm not allowed to see I hope Janne knows That his daddy is me" "When the lad grows up How will things turn out?" "That's something I daren't think about" "The future I know nothing about" "My bottle of rum ls all I think about" "One sunny day How will things be?" "Janne you'll just be A shit like me" "The future I know nothing about" "You turn right for Holmsjö." "It's only a stone's throw from me." "When Stoffe died, his son was placed in a foster-home." "Oddly, this foster home was the other side of the forest from the village where Kenta ended up." "Now we just have to find the lad." "His name is Andersson." "He's with a family of Nonconformists." "I've found him." "He's a car mechanic over that way." "Car mechanic?" "!" "That's right. lt's that way." "There won't be a trilogy." "Over my dead body!" "It's definitely the right place." "There are two mechanics." "One is so like Stoffe. lt's too much!" "Come on in." "l've changed my mind." "Come on!" "Let's go in, dammit!" "Let's talk to him, eh?" "Do you want us to drop the whole thing?" "Why didn't you come in?" "What's the idea?" "We come here and then you won't go in." "It was your idea, dammit!" ""Stoffe's son lives here."" "Then you sit there like a dumb sonofabitch." "You're nuts!" "What a waste of time." "You really annoy me!" "We come all this way and don't finish things. I dislike it." "Either you finish what you start or drop the whole thing." "I'm sorry, Stefan, but you really annoy me." "Sitting there and shutting up doesn't make things any better." "I never told Kenta about Lena's phone call." "I admitted that Lena was right." "Why couldn't I leave Janne in peace in his new home?" "I knew he was doing all right." "I was already in touch with Patrik and Carina." "Carina was also a foster-child." "You should never take children from their parents." "You must have somebody you identify with." "It's terribly important." "You must be able to meet your parents, however bad they are." "You must be able to keep in touch without somebody saying:" ""You can't see your parents." "They're not suitable."" "The social services decided that my mother was unsuitable." "My mother was... lnitially..." "we had a good relationship." "When I went to my foster-parents we kept in touch all the time." "She visited me. I visited her." "Those were the happiest moments in my life anyway." "The moments when we met." "Everything felt so good then." "I didn't see she was having a hard time." "I could only think about how happy I was to see her." "But...she had severe problems." "She was dependent on liquor and pills and so forth." "People I've spoken to who knew her, liked her a lot." "She was a wonderful person." "Everybody liked her." "But I have an idealized picture of her." "She wasn't as good as I'd like her to be." "And...well..." "She's dead now." "Yes." "She died when I was 12." "It was...a very sensitive time." "I was..." "down for years afterwards." "I couldn't discuss it with my foster-parents." "We've never discussed things." "I've never told them my thoughts and feelings." "It was very difficult." "My friends suffered as a result." "I became quarrelsome and aggessive towards them." "Instead of...talking about it I became quarrelsome..." "But some people have always supported me." "They saw through the superficial personality I had adopted." "Those who saw through me are still with me." "They have meant a lot to me." "They were the ones I could talk to." "I got over it after a few years." "I have the memories now." "I've also realized one has to look forward." "I've been living in the past." "I've been through it all from start to finish." "I've begun to realize who I am." "We're more like pals now." "We weren't previously." "I was a mummy's boy." "When Mum moved to Blekinge it was tough at first." "Leaving home, lots to think about, military service... I felt abandoned, as it were." "It feels fine now." "I can talk calmly with them." "There isn't the same pressure about getting up, cleaning up all that "mother" stuff." "They've moved, I live on my own, it feels really good." "We're more on the same level." "There I respect their rules and behave as they expect. lt feels good." "We're like equals." "I often met him when I was little until I went to my foster-parents." "Then he didn't want to interfere in my life." "He knew he couldn't be responsible for me." "He thought it better that I was brought up in a good family." "He kept away all the time." "But my aunt met him, gave me his phone number and I rang him." "Ten years had passed. I was 16." "I rang him, we talked for ages and we were both really happy." "We almost cried." "So we decided to meet." "It was fun. I discovered how incredibly similar we are." "Even though I grew up apart from him there's a lot of him in me." "It's almost frightening!" "However, he is an alcoholic." "He has trouble enough looking after himself." "I've noticed that he would like to take care of me in some way." "Although..." "But obviously I like him 'cos he's my dad." "I suppose everybody does." "Even if you don't have ideal parents, you love them anyway." "No, I don't think there's much to be angry about." "I mean..." "Hate doesn't lead anywhere." "I never bear a grudge." "My mother and I can be hysterical and then she makes me a sandwich." "I don't think there's much to be angry about any more." "I've never hated anyone." "We've finished our military service!" "Can you give me a hand?" "l'll hold it." "Me and my dirty fingers!" "Up a bit." "That's it." "A little bit higher up." "A little bit that way." "There!" "There?" "Got it." "I'll go get a ladder." "This is the shop at the "Crazy House" boarding house." "This is a flower for mum." "Great, eh?" "This is a mirror that laughs when you look at it." "This is a toy for adults." "It makes a mould of your face or whatever." "What a sight!" "We've dancing figures and so on." "Look at these: perfumed panties!" "A musical beer glass. lt plays a drinking song and blinks." "It stops when you put it down." "This machine prints T-shirts:" "names, pictures or whatever." "This is for bad weather." "We've wacky things to choose from." "Six calls." "Three orders, three renewals." "1 4,900 plus 7,950 plus 2,130." "What does that make?" "24,900." "That's fine." "No, there were a lot of returns." "I'll ring Erik tonight anyway." "No..." "Fine!" "Bye." "Hello, mate!" "This is Patrik." "How's things?" "I've finished. lt's gone well." "Sales have gone well today." "Where are you?" "Ringvägen." "I was seeing a customer." "I've finished for the day." "What are your plans?" "I thought we could have a snack or a beer or something." "Let's meet at the café in half an hour." "It's too late to go to the boat so I'll see you there." "I'll fix it tomorrow." "It's twenty to." "I'll see you there at ten past." "Doddo and Patrik have been friends since they were little." "They grew up in adjacent tower blocks." "What does money mean to you?" "I'd like to say "not a lot", but obviously it means a lot." "I like nice things, nice cars a nice place to live, doing what I want." "I don't think about it, as I have the money. I eat out travel where l want and so on." "Sure, it means a lot." "I'm a salesman because you make a lot of contacts." "That's useful when starting your own business." "It's worth it, even if you have to work hard." "People with their own business feel that way. lt's freedom." "Freedom for what?" "You decide your fate." "The more you work the better things go and vice versa." "There are pros and cons:" "You have to work very hard but you make the decisions." "It's up to you." "What do you think makes life worthwhile?" "That depends..." "Doing well for yourself." "If you start a family some time you must be able to give them what they need." "I don't know...it's hard to say." "So many things are important." "Especially if you're young you have an urge to own things." "At least I do." "When Patrik and I were in school we were very competitive at sports not so much in exams but in sports." "Now that we're older l want to be best at what I do and I think Patrik wants to be a winner." "You want to succeed in what you do whether it's sports or a career." "I think Patrik has the same attitude:" "Success is important." "Does money have anything to do with this?" "Sure, money is obviously evidence of success or a certain degree of success." "That's how it is." "Money means so much for so many people even if they won't admit it." "What's the money for?" "It makes things incredibly... lt makes things very simple." "You don't have to think about it." "You can eat out, travel or buy things when you want." "I think everybody feels a certain freedom." "You don't have to sit at home because you have no money." "It's freedom, I think." "I don't know why I had been so worried about this generation." "I don't know where l got the idea from but I thought these children were doomed from the start." "I must have read too many books on social conditioning." "Nobody is doomed in advance." "Congratulations!" "Thanks!" "Here's a ring." "Take care of it." "I want to know everything about what I do: what happens where." "I want to know everything about my business." "Then we'll have to see if I can handle it." "Will you be a loser if you don't achieve that control?" "I'll make it." "I want to have my own company and earn a lot of money." "I'll see that I do it, however long it takes even if it takes until I'm 70." "Things didn't go as planned." "We'd imagined a café and boarding-house." "Coffee in Tingsryd costs 1 .50." "Five kronor with a bun." "What could we do?" "We dropped the whole idea." "Two girls opened a café here, and look what happened to them!" "The boarding-house has only had a few guests:" "Mostly Germans who thought 250 per night was too much." "In Tingsryd, a modern hotel with cable TV costs 300 per night." "It's just not on." "I don't know if I can take much more of this." "I didn't think it would be like this." "Having work to do on the house passed the time." "There was something to do." "The place is ready now." "Sometimes you wake up and think:" ""Time to pack up and go."" "But I don't want to be a coward." "Eva has been a good friend." "We started this together." "We had these grandiose dreams:" "Own a hotel and strut about like barons, but we had no customers except Eva's relatives and they ate us out of house and home!" "Great guests we had!" "No wonder it's called "Crazy House" !" "Dammit, it's a hell of a situation." "It's bloody difficult." "If I go back to the city I'll be done for." "Stuck in that bloody box again!" "You want to go home but you think:" ""What have I got to look forward to?" l've got a job." "So what?" "Work until four, sit about half drunk." "Go home." "Watch TV." "Sleep." "It's pretty iffy." "I've got to have something to do if I'm to cope." "The recession started when we moved here." "Nokia Data closed. 200 unemployed." "Things got worse:" "Firm after firm closed down." "It's terrible." "It's bad everywhere, but it's worst here in Blekinge." "I don't know what we'll do." "All our plans have come to nothing." "It's just too much!" "The first time we met Well, here I came" "But ladies and gents You've yourselves to blame" "All I wanted, you know Was a quiet place to go" "But you can't find that ln Hallabro" "Now I'm leaving this place Leaving Hallabro" "All I wanted to get Was a quiet place to go" "When all you meet Are jerks along the way" "Then you know Home is far away" "So now I'm leaving Hallabro I'd rather live near Stockholm ln Bålsta or Bro" "As soon as I get back to town I'm going to push The top guys around" "'Cos now I'm leaving Little Hallabro Where nobody sensible should go I'm leaving little Hallabro Where nobody sensible should go I tried to find Somewhere quiet to go I didn't find it in Hallabro" "They say that the misfits make a fuss." "It's to show we have rights too." "That's why we do what we do." "If the state doesn't care for us, we don't care for the state." "There'll be war between the misfits and the cops eventually." "I'll go and bomb the police station." "All young people today want nice new things." "I'm no different from them." "I'd like a new TV, a new car, new clothes and be able to travel abroad a lot." "Security in life is what I want." "I'd like to have work that I enjoy which is more like a hobby than work to earn money." "I need free, independent work." "I've always said that I want to move back to Stockholm." "Stockholm is a city where you're more anonymous." "There's so much gossip in smaller towns." "They all know each other and gossip away." "That's what I want in life:" "security." "I'll always be a misfit and I'm bloody proud of it!" "I'm Sweden's poorest bum." "English subtitles by Alan Rees WORDS AB, Malmö"