FEATURE

That’s life, things happen.

-Trond

Although quite possibly the greatest storyline cliche ever, young innocence and its loss vividly remembered is delivered in this film with a calm yet stunning gentility. Truly a Norwegian master, Out Stealing Horses is based on the best-selling novel by Per Petterson. It tells the story of 67-year-old widower Trond (Stellan Skarsgard) as he looks back from a contemporary, harsh, monochrome winter to the sun-kissed summer of 1948 when he learned of the sweetness of love - and the cruelty of fate. If this all does sound a bit cliched, don’t worry - Moland’s almost- Rubenesque images and the slow Scandinavian score lend a delightfully dreamy quality to the plot. This is a film that will not just engage you - it will draw you back in time to age 15, when insects buzzed and sunrays gleamed, when simply manly tasks and the first soft touch of a woman changed a life for ever. Don’t watch this film on your own.