The Slingshot (1993) User Reviews

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[lorenzo212 · 10/10 · 21 October 2001]

Kadisbellan(The Slingshot)is perhaps the best foreign film of 1993. Great story, acting, and many funny moments.

Slingshot is the touching, humorous tale of a Swedish boy in the 20's, from a socialist, jewish family, and his resolve against life's persecutions.

His persecutions include a sadistic, fascist school instructor, overbearing parents, a bully brother, the police, and the daily maturation of a boy to a young man.

How Roland handles and endures these problems is the heart of the film. His solutions are clever and sometimes humorous, but all based out of Roland's steadfast self awareness. We have all walked along the same path.

The cast is super, and each character is extremely real.

Outstanding kudos to Jespar Salen, who plays Roland. His acting and the faces he utilizes make the viewer actually feel his hurts, his inquisitiveness, and his triumphs.

A special role also played by Stellen Sarsgard, as Roland's socialist father, who pontificates daily to any in hearing range. Memorable is his visit to a Russian orthopedic specialist to end his sciatica.

There are many characters and side plots, most end as ours would, but Roland's experience with a young prostitute ends tragically.

The Slingshot gets its title from Roland's ingenuity. His mother sells forbidden condoms, and Roland absconds with some and fashions slingshots out of them for sale to classmates. The slingshot is just one of his many inventions.

Another enjoyable benefit is the quality of the film as a period piece.

well done, very entertaining, excellent picture

[chill-25 · 10/10 · 17 July 2000]

Sit back and enjoy it. It is well done. It has a good story line and will entertain you and your family. The acting is excellent, color and photography are excellent as well. A real surprise of a movie. The boy in it is really innovative. Making slingshots out of condoms. Wow!

Highest Praise

[alissadamiri · 10/10 · 10 October 1998]

"Slingshot" is a gem: beautiful, rare and one in a million.

toads and rubber in old Sweden

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 26 October 2021]

I remember that when I was about ten, one of my mom's friends mentioned a movie about a boy in 1920s Sweden, and mentioned the title. Well, I've finally seen Åke Sandgren's "Kådisbellan" ("The Slingshot" in English). What an impressive piece of work. This focus on the torment suffered by the young protagonist due to his half-Jewish background and family's leftist views puts everything together perfectly. It always worth noting that Sweden in the '20s was not the social democracy that we now know; the country was just as stratified as the rest of Europe. A general strike in 1931 brought to power a leftist government that established the social programs that Sweden's enjoyed ever since.

Anyway, the movie tells the story perfectly. Seeing what the boy goes through, it's no wonder that he starts doing what he does. Definitely see it.

Tomas Norström (the boxing trainer) died of cancer earlier this month.

Beautiful and quirky!

[nimja · 9/10 · 8 February 1999]

This film from the early 1990's is similar to MY Life as a Dog, by Ingamar Bergman. Like Bergman's tale, this film is seen through the eyes of a young boy. The adversity he faces as the son of a Russian Jew and a Socialist are portrayed with humour and intensity. SBS did very well once again to screen this film in 1998.

Yet another great movie set in the 50s about growing up

[torkeltuva · 10/10 · 7 July 1999]

Yet another great movie set in the 50s about growing up. It just says it all. it is impossible to break the spirit of this young boy, how hard the xenophobic school and society try. An important and beautiful film indeed.

A poignant period drama

[KobusAdAstra · 9/10 · 8 February 2017]

Rolle (Roland) is not a very happy boy. He does not get along with his older brother, Bertil, who aspires to be a professional boxer and occasionally uses Rolle as a punching bag, literally. Rolle's socialist father suffers from a painful back and is short-tempered. Rolle's parents are Russian emigrants, and his mother is Jewish, making him a Jew too. His teacher is anti-Semitic and vindictive; their feeling of mutual dislike is palpable. In the eyes of the Stockholm establishment, Rolle and his family are outsiders, and to make matters worse, socialists and Jewish. Rolle is a bit of a dreamer; what if they had stayed in Russia and never moved to Sweden, life surely would have been better?

Rolle has one burning desire; he would love to have a bicycle. When the opportunity arises to buy a second hand one, he jumps. But where to get the money from? There is however a way, enterprising Rolle realizes. He could make use of the new invention, condoms, to earn some money. His socialist and progressive mother has a stash of condoms from which she supplies other women. She surely won't notice a few gone missing. But he has to be careful; condoms are illegal in 1920s Sweden. Rolle is a resourceful lad, but unfortunately his first attempt to make money fails when his mother punctures his display of gas-filled condom- balloons (!), which were bought quite briskly by the other kids before his mother struck. His second effort was even better; he made slingshots, using condoms as slingshot elastic bands; these proved to be particularly popular among the kids. He also repainted and repaired bicycles; his enterprises were going well. If only Rolle's life were that simple… The bicycles he repaired and painted were stolen, but poor Rolle was unaware of this. Fate would once again take aim at Rolle.

This is a wonderful coming-of-age film, which reminds me of the mesmerizing, but thematically different 'My Life as a Dog' by director Lasse Hallström. 'The Slingshot' has several strong points: The set and costumes are so real, within minutes the viewer gets transported to 1920s Stockholm with its authentic cars, trams and shops. Strong performances by Jespar Salen who plays Rolle and Stellen Sarsgård, Rolle's father, add to the film's credibility. Imaginative cinematography, soundtrack and a lively script make watching this film a memorable experience. I score 'The Slingshot' an excellent 8.5/10.