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The Slingshot

1993 ‘Kådisbellan’ Directed by Åke Sandgren

If growing up were easy, everybody would do it.

Stockholm in the 1920s. Young Roland lives with his socialist father, Jewish mother and a boxing brother. His mother sells condoms illegally, and from them, Roland makes slingshots which he sells. His rebellious ways has gotten him the special attention of his school teacher, who always makes sure that Roland is punished. Roland also tries to make extra money by repairing bicycles, a successful business that in the end lands him in hot water.

Stellan Skarsgård Jesper Salén Basia Frydman Niclas Olund Ernst-Hugo Järegård Reine Brynolfsson Frida Hallgren Axel Düberg Ing-Marie Carlsson Ernst Günther Roland Hedlund Tomas Norström Heinz Hopf Margreth Weivers Carl Magnus Dellow Rolf Lassgård Peter Viitanen Viktor Friberg Kenneth Söderman Kalle Stridbeck Martin Oldelius Christian Vaara Staffan Björk Andreas Siegers Fredrik Ådén Anna Carlsten Linnéa Roxeheim

Alternative Titles

Рогатка, Proca, Csúzli, I sfentona, Ritsakauppias, Locuras de muchachos, Slangebøssen, Loucuras de Garoto, Die Steinschleuder, Colpo di fionda, Le Lance-Pierres

Genre

Drama

Theatrical

24 Sep 1993

Sweden11

Sweden

24 Sep 1993

Theatrical11

102 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Victor ★★ 3

Saxofonen och Stellan var bäst, annars kändes det mest som Stellans ischias att se den här rullen
Review by DungeonSkramz ★★★

Again with Sweden and their Oscar bait-y period dramas.
Wouldn't go as far as to call this misery porn, but god damn, the main character really got treated as a literal punching bag. Established that tone early on by having him lick a frozen pole, but going forward with the rather aimless "this happened, then that happened" structure lessened the emotional throughline to where the ending felt way too abrupt and inconclusive.
Competently made in terms of the bittersweet soundtrack and ambitious 1920's era production design, but not anything essential as a whole, unless you can't get enough of coming of age films pulling the "kid naive about sexuality ends up in awkward situations as a result" card for some reason.
Review by Ethan ★★

My professor showed this to our English Literature class and I had to miss the last day so I begged him to let me borrow the DVD to finish it and he very begrudgingly lent it to me after cautioning me that it’s a really difficult movie to find and he absolutely needed it back ASAP. I have a super clear memory of sliding the disc under his office door after the semester ended but that must’ve been the Mandela Effect because I found it years later buried amongst my old CDs. I have another clear memory of me mailing the disc back to him, but now I’m wondering if that’s also just the Mandela Effect. All of this is just to say I’m sorry I was an irresponsible shit, Prof. Madigan.
Review by Darko Jovanovic ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This movie is great. So in the 1920s in Sweden a twelve year old has a Jew for a mother and a socialist for a father. His father has a back problem and needs morphine but he's a stern Hitler esque father. His mother, a Jew from Mother Russia, sells condoms illegally from her store. The brother wants to be a boxer and often accidentally hits his brother in the face. The twelve year old wants a bike and causes trouble at school which by today standards he'd be considered a saint. So he makes a deal with this kid for his bike and first off uses the condoms to sell as balloons until his mother pops them all so then he sells them as slingshots. Yes, this is the story of the boy who created the Condom Slingshot.
Review by Wallywood ★★★

The Slingshot was a fun and quirky film. It didn't have a strong plot though and felt aimless in parts, which meant a few of the peak moments didn't impact as much as they could of. The young lead was fantastic and his eccentric ideas were hilarious. It was more of a slice of life film capturing its era.
Review by JeffBeachnau ★★★½ 3

(4-8-23)
Pretty good Swedish coming of age film set in the 1920s about a Jewish boy growing up in Stockholm, it's sort of like Sweden's attempt at a My Life as a Dog. The main kid gets into some little adventures/crazy schemes that tend to get him into trouble. The title comes from his mother who sells condoms (which were illegal back then), so he steals from her stash and makes slingshots out of them to sell them to the local kids. So it's random moments like that throughout. A sort of young Stellan Skarsgard plays his father and he does a good job here. For the most part I enjoyed it, even if the version I watched had poor subtitle work, so it was a little hard to follow the dialogue at times. But I thought the lead kid did a great job and helped carry the film.
Review by Rosalind Hulse ★★★★½

A witty and endearing coming-of-age film set in early twentieth-century Stockholm. Suffocated by his strict antisemitic school and fanatically socialist father, Roland finds new and ingenious ways of making money to get his own bike. Despite the world denying him both his bike and denying his place as a Swede, Roland always keeps his chin up and ultimately is triumphant in remaining a free agent. Throughout the film, he frequently asks whether one can be both Jewish (like his mother) and a socialist (like his father), highlighting his desire to assimilate and rebel.
While this could have been quite a dark film, The Slingshot manages to perfectly walk the delicate line between comedy and drama, partly due to Roland's constant wit, agency, and optimism. This could easily be a film one might watch with young teenagers or older relatives- assuming they don't mind the subtitles.
Review by elviraakv ★★★★

Me fr
Review by demartan ★★★½

"jude...socialist...kriminell...då kan jag väl slå dig, med gott samvete?"
Review by Not Jonathan Rosenbaum

I was afraid I’d find this Swedish period piece by Ake Sandgren cutesy, but I wound up liking it quite a bit. Based on an autobiographical novel by Roland Schutt, it’s set in Stockholm in the 20s. The ten-year-old hero’s mother is a Russian Jew, his father’s a revolutionary socialist, and his older brother, an aspiring boxer, keeps punching him in the nose. The anti-Semitism of Roland’s teacher and schoolmates and the illegal activities of his parents–which include distributing condoms to workers and attending incendiary political meetings–make him something of a defiant outcast. All the characters are treated with a fair amount of humor and affection (the father, played by Stellan Skarsgard, is indelible), the period details are well handled, and the episodic story line is fairly engaging. The film doesn’t dig too deep, but it might make you feel pretty good. With Jesper Salen and Basia Frydman.
Review by alvida ★★

sosse-stellan har verkligen en vidrig mustasch
Review by youandicannabis ★★★½

Hahaha The UnderToad; feels good man.

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Where to watch

The Slingshot

Synopsis

If growing up were easy, everybody would do it.

Cast

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Releases by Date

Theatrical

24 Sep 1993

Releases by Country

Sweden

24 Sep 1993

Popular reviews

Where to watch

The Slingshot

Synopsis

If growing up were easy, everybody would do it.

Cast

Director Director

Producers Producers

Writers Writers

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Production Design Production Design

Composer Composer

Sound Sound

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup Makeup

Studios

Countries

Language

Alternative Titles

Genre

Theatrical

24 Sep 1993

Sweden

24 Sep 1993

Popular reviews

Director

Producers

Writers

Editor

Cinematography

Production Design

Composer

Sound

Costume Design

Makeup