DVD Åsa-Nisse – Wälkom to Knohult

A little history lesson to begin with: Between 1949 and 1969, 20 movies were made about Åsa-Nisse (Who I will get into more detail about later on). Movie critics often gave the movies bad reviews, and that caused the national public service TV company to "ban" them from being aired on TV, though when more TV stations were started in the 90's, the Åsa-Nisse movies were aired on TV again. The movies were centered around Åsa-Nisse (Nisse on the Hill) and his faithful sidekick Klabbarparn (The Klabbarper) who are two unemployed men living in a tiny village called Knohult, located in the province of Småland. They're unemployed, and they spend most of their days poaching, fishing and constructing various vehicles.

After a hiatus lasting 41 years, it was time to make a 21st movie set in modern times. John Elfström and Artur Rolén who were the actors most associated with Åsa-Nisse and Klabbarparn respectively were replaced with Kjell Bergqvist and Michael Segerström, both well-known actors in Sweden. Besides the modern setting, there hasn't really been any changes. The characters are as wacky as they were in the first 20 movies.

The plot of the movie starts when Åsa-Nisse's wife Eulalia gets tired of having a broken water pump and Nisse refuses to fix it. When Eulalia starts taking baths in soda and watering flowers with Åsa-Nisse's moonshine, he realizes something has to be done, so he constructs a pump which he calls Dunderpumpen, but rather than ending up with a water pump he ends up with an oil pump. The news about the oil spread quickly through Knohult and everybody wants their share of the oil, and so does the Swedish Government in co-operation with Skånsk Petroleum. Åsa-Nisse decides that Knohult should keep the oil for themselves so he declares the village an independent nation, with Åsa-Nisse as president. The situation gets more tough by the minute, and it doesn't take long before Knohult is in a war against the US Army!

I highly recommend this movie to anybody who's interested in Swedish culture or tired of American movies and wants a little break from them. Too bad it has not been released outside of Sweden as far as I'm concerned, likely due to its "Swedishness", but if you manage to track down some English subtitles, I don't think you will be disappointed.