Director: Aksel Hennie, John Andreas Andersen
Country of origin and year: Norway, 2004
Language: Norwegian
Subtitles: English (USA R1)
Bonus Features subtitled?: unknown

This Norwegian film introduces us to the main character, David, who is a 25 years old bodybuilder working in a gym. At home, his father is ailing of cancer, and David has a mother and a brother that he cannot relate to. Unable to cope with the issues at home, he spends time at the gym. At nights, David hangs out with the gym friends, and we see that they are involved with violence and drugs. Nevertheless, David looks the other way, and tries to help his mates out whenever they get themselves in trouble.

David comes home one night only to find that his father has been brought to the hospital, presumably to die. He goes to the hospital and spends the night with his mum and his brother. In the morning, he tells his mum that he is going out for air and to the gym to ask for the day off. Upon arrival at the gym, he discovers that the folks at the gym are under house arrest, and he tries to walk away, only to be held by the police. All of the folks are transported to the local police station, and David has nothing else on his mind other than his father's approaching death. He tries to explain his situation to the unsympathetic police, and after a while, he finally signs paperwork betraying his friends, so that he could go to see his dad at the hospital. Helas, it is too late; his father has passed away.

David is left completely on his own to cope with his new-found dillemmas: being shut out by the gym folks, trying to make good of his deal with a drug buyer, coming to terms with his father's death and promising his mother that he would take care of his brother whilst she goes out to work on her new job. David also finds that his work-out partner, Morten, has also abandoned him in order stick with the gym folks. David has to work hard to redeem himself and to start his life anew with a better objective in his mind.

Initially, when I first started watching the film, I was not too sure if it was my type of film. However, the more the film progressed, the more interesting it became. The characters seem to be well written, and also the story itself. There are several situations where you end up feeling alarmed, especially when it comes to having the mentally retarded brother involved. It is interesting to watch an Euro-gang film, which something different than a typical American gangster film filled with violence, sex and murder. Anyhow, I give the movie 4 stars.