Netflix Streamer: Oslo, August 31st

Foreign movies are definitely an acquired taste. I don't mean this in snobbish sort of way , but I think everyone can agree it takes a certain type of subtle determination to choose to watch a film in a language that you cannot understand. In my case, my eternal problem is that I love to gently multitask while watching movies in my own home, which simply cannot work for foreign movies. Thus when I sat down to watch Oslo, August 31st (a 2011 Cannes Film Festival entry that has been showing up in my Netflix Queue forever), I found myself having to rewind and watch different conversations again and again as I got used to hearing the Norwegian and forgot to read the subtitles.

Oslo, August 31st is the story of a recovering drug addict named Anders, who has been given leave from his treatment in rehab to attend a job interview in his old stomping ground of Oslo. The film begins quite nostalgically, providing us with idyllic shots of the city along with testimonials by random people telling us about their experiences in it. Almost immediately, a starkly emotionless scene involving a river and some rocks tell us that Anders' relationship with the city is not quite as great ,and that while the interview has been encouraged to help prepare him to feel some sort of normalcy upon release, it is clear that Anders is  not quite ready to deal with the aspects of the real world that come with it.

It's impossible not to cringe as we watch Anders dealing with his friends and family, most of whom seem to have gone right along without him. While Anders was deep in his addiction and subsequent recovery, his old friends have gotten married, are having children and have settled into an early-30s rhythm that is not exactly welcoming to a former drug addict. It is here that the film makes its emotional strides, through the use of acting that is particularly stirring. It is perhaps for this reason that I would forget to even look at the subtitles and just focus on the faces of the actors.  Actor Anders Danielson Lee, who ironically plays Anders, does a fantastic job of giving us just the right amount of emotion. His frustration at the wasted years of his life is not exemplified by any epic tantrum of rage complete with heavy breathing, but rather a look of quiet hurt flashing across his face every once in a while at the odd inconsiderate comment by one of his old pals.

As the film nears its end, it becomes evident that it is not a good one to watch on a rainy day. In fact, I was so depressed by the sadly predictable ending of the film that I  finished half a chicken for supper. But even after I had eaten myself back into a normal mood, I could not escape the film's messages about drug addiction; messages that are very relevant in this country and that countless people in my life have had to deal with. I was forced to remember if I had been there for them in their re-introduction into the world, or whether I had simply watched them come and go, making them and their experience pieces of gossip at a reunion of our group from high school.

If I have done so, I will never do so again thanks to a truly thought-provoking film that ends quite abruptly in Oslo, August 31st.