The film, "Brødre i blodet," or "Elling," is about a 40 years old man who lives a quite sheltered life under his mother, until when his mother dies. The authorities finds him in a closet and decides to commit him into a mental institution. After a year in the institution, the Norwegian government decides to place him with another patient in a different apartment building, to see if they can manage on their own. A social worker is assigned to the duo, and it is his responsiblity to attempt to expose his clients to the real world and to teach them how to function out there.

One theme in the film struck a chord with me, and it was about... what else? Boundaries! One of the guys keeps talking about his boundaries, what he is comfortable with and so on. It is their own boundaries that makes them unable to go out there and experience the world. The social worker tries to "slap" them out of their boundaries by setting up a set of goals that he expects them to acheive within a time limit. These goals makes the duo uneasy; however they start to take steps to see what exists beyond the door. We are taken on a journey where they experience the most basic life events, and it is done as if it is celebrated. The characters are transformed into what they think are abnormal people; however the social worker tells them that they are on the good path. The movie compels me to think how we take the most basic events for granted, and how little we appreciate, or "celebrate" these ordinary events. It is also enlightening to see a movie which celebrates imperfections in life.