Beatles (Peter Flinth, 2014): Norway

Reviewed by Lia Durham. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2015.

The Norwegian coming of age film immersed in Beatle culture, Beatles is based on the best selling scandinavian novel of the same name by Lars Saabye Christensen. Set in the 1960’s director Peter Flinth tells the story of four teenage boys in middle adolescence who are obsessed with the Beatles.

During the opening credits we are already transported back into the swinging 60’s with pop art style titles and real footage of the time. The story is told through Kim’s perspective. One of the four boys, Kim identifies the most with Paul McCartney. The film opens in a classroom where an exam is being taken. The essay question is “who are your biggest heroes?” through narration Kim takes us back into his recent past and describes how the Beatles have influenced every aspect of his life. Kim’s best friends all love the Beatles as well in fact they love all the same things. They idolize the Beatles so much that they try and start a band themselves. There is a funny scene with them playing around with another bands equipment. They go into this fantasy sequence of them playing flawlessly and hundreds of screaming girls desperately wanting to be near them. But when it cuts back to reality they are alone in a garage barely carrying a tune. We also get to see them as they interact romantically with girls for the first time, which is funny, sad, sweet and also cringe worthy at times. As we get to see more of the boys as individuals we learn that this group who are as thick as thieves even they have secrets from each other and want to explore their own identities.

The music in this film is great and all time period appropriate. As you can probably guess there are quite a few Beatles songs but there are other artist featured as well. Each song used in the film lines up perfectly with the emotional poignancy of the scene.

This film showcases how a connection to something outside yourself can help shape who you are. How being passionate about something can open you up to more passion in your own life. The themes in this film are friendship, love and finding your own identity. It portrays that time in childhood when you aren’t a little kid but you’re also not an adult. That in-between stage when you start to break free and find your own voice. This film leaves you with the feelings of sweet nostalgia.