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Race, Ethnicity, and Gang Violence: Exploring
Multicultural Tensions in Contemporary Danish
Cinema
KATE MOFFAT
ABSTRACT: One of the most striking genre conventions to emerge in Danish
cinema in recent years is the gangster motif. Replete with gritty social realism,
urban decay, and tribal warfare between different ethnic groups, these lms
reect a growing discontent in the Danish welfare state, particularly regarding
multiculturalism and inclusion. This article follows these trends from the
mid-1990s, focusing specically on the themes of ethnic division in four lms:
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher (1996), Michael Noer’s Nordvest (2013) [Northwest],
Omar Shargawi’s Gå med fred, Jamil (2008) [Go With Peace, Jamil], and Michael Noer
and Tobias Lindholm’s R(2010) [R: Hit First, Hit Hardest]. The article explores racial
division in these lms by examining how they reect or subvert cultural and
political approaches towards diversity in Denmark over the last two decades.
RÉSUMÉ : L’une des conventions de genre les plus frappantes à avoir émergée
dans le cinéma danois ces dernières années est le genre gangster. Remplis de
réalisme social audacieux, de déclin urbain et de guerres tribales entre différents
groupes ethniques, ces lms reètent un mécontentement croissant envers
l’État-providence danois, en particulier en ce qui concerne le multiculturalisme
et l’inclusion. Cet article suit ces tendances depuis le milieu des années 1990, en
se concentrant spéciquement sur les thèmes du clivage ethnique dans quatre
lms: Pusher de Nicolas Winding Refn (1996), Nordvest [Northwest, en français :
Nord-Ouest] (2013) de Michael Noer, Gå med fred, Jamil d’Omar Shargawi [Go With
Peace, Jamil, en français : Va en paix, Jamil] (2008), et Rde Michael Noer et Tobias
Lindholm (2010). L’article explore la division raciale dans ces lms en examinant
comment ils reètent ou mettent à mal les approches culturelles et politiques
envers la diversité au Danemark, au cours des deux dernières décennies.
University of Stirling
VOLUME 25SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES
2018ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
Introduction: Nordic Genre Cinema and the Medium Concept
Film
Themes of race and ethnicity became increasingly prevalent in Danish
cinema from the mid-1990s onwards. Although rst- and
second-generation immigrant characters have appeared across a
variety of genres, representations of ethnicity, and in particular
ethnic conict, have chiey emerged in a particular style of lm, specically one
involving conventions associated with gangster cinema. These lms share a visual
language where gritty urban dilapidation, explorations of the seedy underground
side of city life, and marginal down-and-out characters are fused cinematically
with a documentary-realist aesthetic. Most also feature ethnic or immigrant
gangsters, typically involved with street-level hustling or the organized narcotics
trade. Consequently, as these lms mine transnational gangster tropes but largely
set them in a recognizably Danish context, they bring up relevant questions about
the role of genre cinema as a representative tool for capturing contemporary
problems with race and ethnic identity in Denmark. Consequently, we must also
consider how these populist genre conventions have emerged in the Nordic
countries.
Recent scholarship addressing genre in the small nation lm cultures of the
Nordic region has blossomed with anthologies like Pietari Kääpä and Tommy
Gustafsson’s Nordic Genre Film (2015) exploring the depth and variation of the
subject. Despite the enduring prevalence and popularity of genre cinema
throughout Nordic lm history, the respective Nordic lm institutes were
traditionally more inclined to invest in a signature style of Nordic lm
characterised by “existential artistry” (Kääpä and Gustafsson 1) or socially
conscious subject matter. The government-backed funding structures of these
institutes perceived such qualities to be more valuable and artistically relevant,
and this reputation has developed through international festival circuits. However,
from the 1980s onwards, structural and operational transformations in the Nordic
lm industries have radically altered the relationship between institutional
support and this form of national art cinema. Embracing the commercial potential
of genre cinema stems from an emerging generation of lmmakers inuenced
by Hollywood (Kääpä and Gustafsson 1-17).
One of the unique permutations of genre lm to emerge in this small region
and one that is highly relevant for discussing the lms in this article forms part
of what Andrew Nestingen has identied as the medium concept lm. Medium
concept lms represent a merging of imported genre formats with nationally
relevant topics, especially social issues, or political debate. Consequently, such
lms represent a midpoint between commercial and art cinema where:
medium concept can be understood as lmmaking that involves the adaptation of
genre models and art-lm aesthetics; an engagement with political debates, lending
the lms cultural signicance; and that integrates with these elements a marketing
strategy designed to reach a specic audience.
(Nestingen 53)
Several chapters in Gustafsson and Kääpä’s collection refer to Nestingen’s concept
when addressing the emergence of the gangster gure and how many of its
associated conventions manifest in different societal contexts. For instance, Björn
Norðfjörð explores Iceland’s recent forays into gangster territory with Olaf de
Fleurʼs (Ólafur Jóhannessonʼs) brutal thriller Borgríki (2011) [City State]. Additionally,
Michael Tapperʼs insightful piece on the Swedish Snabba Cash (2010) [Easy Money]
contextualizes gangster thematics alongside the neoliberalization of Sweden,
where welfare state priorities have shifted politically and ideologically from public
interests to private ones (Tapper 104–19).
We can use the medium concept label to describe the Danish examples in
this article precisely because their stark depictions of gangster-themed violence
squarely challenge any harmonious or utopian conceptualization of
multiculturalism. The use of these conventions has developed simultaneously
with Denmark’s especially hard-line on immigration and its approach to cultural
integration. Although these issues are of course contested in the neighbouring
Nordic countries and beyond, I claim that the context of Denmarkʼs conicting
ideas about multiculturalism has contributed to the prevalence of this genre in
Denmark. To emphasize the impact of changing social and political attitudes
towards immigration and multiculturalism, I focus on four case studies. I begin
with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher (1996) and lead on to Michael Noer’s Nordvest
(2013) [Northwest], Omar Shargawi’s Gå med fred, Jamil (2008) [Go With Peace, Jamil]
and Michael Noer and Tobias Lindholm’s R(2010) [R: Hit First, Hit Hardest], which
were all released during or just after the liberal-conservative coalition government
of 2001-2011. I examine how, thematically, they play around with Denmark’s
contradictory policies on diversity management by appropriating tropes from
the Hollywood gangster canon. Consequently, I explore the gangster genre and
its prevalence in Denmark as a reaction to this coalition’s fragmented and
contradictory approach to multi-ethnic realities. To understand this, we must
explore both the developments in Denmark’s recent immigration policies and
examine the changes in its lm history.
New Danish Cinema
To understand how and why the gangster gure has developed in Denmark,
we must view the ethnic gangster lm as part of the New Danish Cinema
movement, where multiculturalism has emerged simultaneously as a contested
138 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
point of public and political debate. According to Mette Hjort (2005), the concept
of New Danish Cinema has arisen in response to the increasingly global ows of
cultural exchange and hybridization brought about by technological
transformations and associated forms of globalization. These transformations
have also profoundly affected the visual style and thematic content of Danish
lms as well as the structure of this small nation’s lm industry. Expanding on
these visual changes, Mette Hjort states:
A key tendency within the New Danish Cinema is action lm centred around
questions of ethnicity and belonging. What is apparent here is the appropriation
of genre formulas that are very much part of a Hollywood-driven global cinema
for the purposes of exploring the very issues of ethnicity and citizenship made
urgent and compelling by the multicultural transformation of a previously
ethnically and culturally homogenous nation-state.
(Hjort 237)
Although Hjort uses the term action cinema to describe a wide range of texts, I
focus specically on those involving gangsters. There are several reasons for the
emphasis on gang-related themes, especially when considering the wider context
of ethnic identity and multiculturalism. Most strikingly, gangsters invoke the
theme of tribalism, where two or more rival groups or factions clash. Here, it
would be easy to associate how the tribal politics of the gangster lm function as
a metaphor for contested views on the ethnic Other in the Danish welfare state.
The gangster genre also helps us understand, challenge, and subvert the concepts
of “Danish-ness” and the “Danish values” of togetherness upheld by the dominant
national rhetoric. Firstly, however, we must examine the history of multicultural
politics both on- and off-screen.
Danish Multiculturalism and Emerging Cinematic Tribalism
Although Denmark has a long history of immigration, particularly from
neighbouring Sweden, the Netherlands, and through its Jewish population
(Schmidt 199-203), its transition from a largely ethnically and culturally
homogenous nation to a multi-ethnic one roughly began in the 1960s and 1970s.
During this period, the mass migration of refugees and immigrants, largely from
the Middle East, parts of Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe, happened under
the so-called guest worker (gæstearbejdere) programs, where foreign labour was
imported to sustain post-war economic growth. This workforce was critical to
the development of Denmarkʼs welfare state model. When the guest worker
programs ended, there was an expectation that foreign workers would return to
their original nation-states (Walter 31-32). However, many made the Nordic
MULTICULTURAL TENSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY DANISH CINEMA 139
countries their permanent home, moving their families over or marrying into
the host nation.
Consequently, in Denmark, the arrival of newcomers has given rise to a new
vocabulary. Terms like ethnic Danes and new Danes are now employed in political
and public discourse to distinguish between those born in Denmark and those
whose ethnic ancestry typically lies outside the Nordic region. Despite this
emerging multicultural reality, ethnicity in Danish cinema largely remained
absent during this period. Even with their actively positive role during the guest
worker phase, attitudes towards immigrants began to shift in the late 1970s. Fears
over rising unemployment apparently fuelled division between ethnic groups.
The other barrier between ethnic Danes and new Danes was the perception that
some cultures and religions were less susceptible to integration. The far-right
embraced this mantra and seized the opportunity to paint a picture, particularly
of Muslim immigrants, as inherently less willing to adapt to Danish cultural and
social “values” (Hjort 240–41). This particular development remains central to
the immigration debate, something I shall explore in more depth later. With such
impressions of immigrants, particularly those from the Middle East, circulating
in the Danish media, the concept of multiculturalism clearly faced opposition
early on in its development as a political tool for negotiating ethnic and cultural
difference.
Ulf Hedetoft notes that “‘Danish multiculturalism’ is an oxymoronic notion”
(111). Although immigration is a key issue across the societal spectrum, in policy
terms, multiculturalism does not exist in Denmark (Lægaard 170). Moreover, the
rhetoric maintained by successive governments, particularly the right-wing
coalition (2001-2011) who are said to have clinched their electoral success on
their tough immigration stance, was that Denmark would work to remain a
mono-cultural society and one generally opposed to globalization (Hedetoft 117).
The coalition period of 2001–2011 marked the rst time the Danish Peopleʼs Party
(DPP), Denmark’s anti-immigrant populists, held sway over the political and
ideological direction of the country. This attitude has created many contradictions
and disparities between what multiculturalism means on social and political
levels. There are other added complications because of the relative autonomy
granted to municipalities, who have the power to implement their own agenda
on how ethnic relations are managed. In policy and political rhetoric,
multiculturalism is best understood as a series of fragmented terms and conicting
ideas. Discussions about the ethnic Other contrast with prevailing notions of
Danish values built around the collective community-oriented welfare ideology
of the Nordic model. Signicantly, debates about race tend to emerge as matters
of culture in Denmark, which is another important factor when considering the
appropriation of gangster conventions in Danish cinema. However, we must
qualify the situation. Despite the resistance to describing itself as multicultural
on a national level, in large cities like Copenhagen, there is a drive to attract
140 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
skilled immigrant workers and promote ethnic diversity. This fact is also
contradicted by many of the texts discussed in this article, not least because they
are set in urban areas like Copenhagen. Hedetoft describes how Denmark has
essentially used assimilationist strategies in its approach to integration. Perhaps
most interestingly of all in the context of the Danish gangster trend is how
attitudes towards newcomers were based on a very specic set of expectations;
that immigrants were expected to demonstrate self-sufciency before they had
access to the same welfare provisions as ethnic Danes (Jöhncke 48). As we shall
see, this is also reected in the themes of individualism associated with the
gangster genre.
The opposition to multiculturalism is also complex. The concept has also
come under attack from critics who cite its reliance on similar hegemonic
relationships to the ones it purportedly denounces. One such critic, Slavoj Žižek,
claims that multiculturalism is dependent on the Other behaving in ways that
conform to Western expectations. Without this conformity, any sense of equality
quickly disintegrates. Although multiculturalism has risen out of the dominant
ideology as a way of tackling cultural exclusion, according to Žižek, these
expectations are based on a sanitized and homogeneous image of the Other, free
from antagonisms and complexities (Žižek 1997). For Žižek, the oppressive
dimension of multiculturalism also lies in its reliance on tolerance, a concept
undermined by the very universality of multiculturalism. In other words, to
tolerate something implies endurance rather than understanding or equivalence.
In cinematic terms, some of the earliest explorations of Danish
multiculturalism in crisis can be found in Erik Clausen’s Rami og Julie (1988) [Rami
and Julie], and Brita Wielopolska’s 17 Op (1989) [17 Up] (also called Sally’s Bizniz).
Although they do not conform to the same gritty gangster formats seen in
following decades, they are nonetheless both early examples of ethnic conict
in Denmark’s contemporary urban spaces. Rami og Julie is a modern re-working
of the Montague-Capulet motif, where the conict and division between the two
families represents a cultural and political split between ethnic Danes and new
Danes. When a young Palestinian immigrant, Rami (Saleh Malek) falls in love with
a young Danish girl called Julie (Soe Gråbøl), dire consequences ensue when he
is forced to confront her racist family. Rather than ending in a mutual suicide,
however, Clausen’s lm takes a tragic turn when Rami is killed after being sent
out of the country by his father.
In Wielopolska’s lm, teenager Sally (Jane Eggertsen) befriends Zuhal (Mia
El Mousti), a Turkish girl who moves into her social housing block. Initially, Sally
is prone to racist views, but amongst the poverty and social delinquency the two
girls form an unlikely friendship. As well as exploring both girls’ contrasting
cultural backgrounds, the lm paints a sobering picture of Denmark in the 1980s.
Both 17 Op and Rami og Julie are sympathetic explorations of immigrant
experiences. They expose racial hatred and the kind of universal suffering brought
MULTICULTURAL TENSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY DANISH CINEMA 141
about by poverty. The wider political and economic circumstances mitigate ethnic
clashes, where opportunities, especially for those on the economic and cultural
margins, are limited. These narratives usefully consolidate ethnic tensions, social
deprivation, and connement resulting from a move away from the collectivist
values of the Danish welfare system. This theme has also become another dening
feature of the gangster trend across the Nordic region.
The Danish welfare state developed along the same lines as what is referred
to as the Nordic model. This mix of high taxation levels and public expenditure
with free-market economic practices was idealized as a utopian balance between
socialism and capitalism. However, the model has also faced criticism for
increasing privatization, especially during the neoliberal era of the 1980s. There
is also an ideological aspect to the welfare model. It is also used to represent
Danish values and identity. The conicts surrounding immigration in Denmark
have politicized the welfare state; it has become an ideal that must be protected
from outsiders who are perceived to abuse or exploit its limited resource base
and employment market. Consequently, the welfare state has become a political-
economic tool in the immigration debate. However, it is problematic to view the
contemporary resistance to multiculturalism entirely along economic lines, where
rising unemployment has been known to exacerbate ethnic tensions in the past.
Denmark largely avoided the global economic downturn in the 1990s and
unemployment levels were at a record-breaking low (Appelbaum and Schmit
121). Rather, from the 1990s onwards, during which time the gangster genre took
hold, the right-wing anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party began an ideological
campaign against immigration in the wake of emerging socio-cultural
transformation.
Pusher (Nicolas Winding Refn 1996)
During the 1990s, debates over immigration intensied in Denmark.
Thousands of refugees eeing war in Bosnia entered the country, and the crisis
provoked questions about Danish values and identity in the face of mounting
xenophobia and the rising popularity of the right-wing Danish People’s Party
(Juul 70). The 1990s were also a dening decade for race and ethnicity on Danish
screens. Given the context of Yugoslavia’s collapse, it is perhaps unsurprising
that one of the rst violent gangster-orientated lms to emerge in Denmark
features an Eastern European immigrant. Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher (1996),
now widely regarded as a cult lm, helped to establish the ethnic-themed gangster
lm. It also set the stylistic template for the genre, accentuating the gritty
atmosphere of Copenhagen using handheld cameras to give it a raw
documentary-like feel. Pusher is also notable for its pulsating soundtrack,
claustrophobic subterranean club sequences, and brutal violence. Its narrative
themes are built on a medium concept format, mixing the fractured identity
142 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
politics of Copenhagen (Nestingen 90) with the terrifying brutality of organized
crime. In this world of insipid grey tower blocks, small-time heroin dealer Frank
(Kim Bodnia) and his sidekick Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) become involved with
powerful Serbian drug lord Milo (Zlatko Burić). Frank aspires to rise above
street-level crime and establish his own narcotics network. However, when a deal
goes wrong, Frank nds himself at Miloʼs mercy. Miloʼs fascinatingly shifty persona
and reptilian charm helped to establish Zlatko Burić as a key gure in New Danish
Cinema. He has also frequently collaborated with Winding, most notably in Pusher’s
two sequels, Pusher II (2004) [Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands] and Pusher 3 (2005)
[Pusher III: Iʼm the Angel of Death], both of which involve a focus on Milo’s character
development. Miloʼs subtle cordiality thinly masks his capacity for extreme
violence. He even treats Frank with a false sense of familial inclusion, almost like
a fellow brother, but one who is ultimately one wrong move away from a sticky
end. This kind of treatment subversively plays with the rhetorical inclusiveness
that multiculturalism purports to establish. Its sense of togetherness or
equal-footing is a false one or at the very least, based on an unspoken conformity
to a set of rules, behaviours, or actions.
In line with the medium concept notion, the legacy of Goodfellas (Martin
Scorsese 1990) and Scarface (Brian De Palma 1983) are also notable (Nestingen
91-94). One signicant difference identied by Nestingen between American
gangsters and the Nordic variations is how “the ambivalence towards
individualism captures seminal features of the discourse in the Nordic countries
about the new values of competitiveness, entrepreneurialism and self-interest”
(Nestingen 96). I propose we can add multiculturalism to this list. I also claim that
we must develop a more forceful connection between the gangster motif and
immigration, particularly in Denmark, where this ambivalence towards both
individualism and specic cultural and religious practices is palpable on many
social and political levels. The relationship between Frank and Milo is also a
curious role-reversal of Denmark’s assimilationist strategies, where Frank’s
unquestioning compliance with Miloʼs rules is non-negotiable. This resonates in
a Danish context because, as Hedetoft highlights, the Danish approach to ethnic
diversity was less about integration and more about assimilation (Hedetoft 119).
Mette Hjort claims that Pusher presents an ironic take on the ethnic criminal
gangster. In her analysis, the hyper-exaggerated Eastern European immigrant
stereotypes are designed to mock ethnic Danes and their often baseless
misconceptions about immigrants (267). She reinforces her argument by exploring
the ethniction of Miloʼs character and his domestic surroundings, which rely
heavily on stereotyped aspects of Eastern European kitsch culture. This
observation harks back to the exaggerated or distorted images that began
circulating in Denmark in the late 1970s when negative press about specic
cultural and religious practices began to emerge.
MULTICULTURAL TENSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY DANISH CINEMA 143
“You’re Either with Us or Against Us”: Michael Noer’s Nordvest
(2013) [Northwest]
Produced in a post-coalition era when strict immigration policies and
embedded attitudes towards the ethnic, particularly Muslim, Other remain, I
argue that Michael Noer’s Nordvest [Northwest] is a typical example of the Danish
gangster lm where the perspective of the white ethnic Dane takes priority. It is
set in a gritty urban environment, in this case, the neighbourhood of Nørrebro,
which is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Denmark. It features a young
white male protagonist caught between individual desires and protecting his
vulnerable family against a group of thugs made up of second-generation Arab
immigrants. Lastly, although it undoubtedly challenges the efcacy of Danish
integration policies, I also argue that Noer’s lm reinforces the mantra of us
versus them.
Casper (Gustav Dyekjær Giese), the ethnic Danish teenage protagonist, works
as a petty thief for a Danish-Arab clique headed by Jamal (Dul Al-Jabouri) and
his sidekick Ali (Ali Abdul Amir Najei). The gang trade in stolen goods and as an
accomplished thief, Casper is an asset to Jamal’s operation. Jamal’s control over
Casper and his younger brother Andy (Oscar Dyekjær Giese) is clear from the
outset, and he is shown to be an uncompromising bully.
Despite his criminal activity, Casper is committed to his family, investing
his prots in his young sister and struggling single mother. However, after
struggling under Jamal’s controlling thumb, Casper begins working for ethnic
Dane Bjørn (Roland Møller), a local drug dealer and pimp. As tensions escalate
between the two sides, Casper is dragged further into the criminal underworld.
When Jamal launches an attack on Bjørn’s property, Bjørn orders Casper to
assassinate him. However, when Casper can’t face the task, his younger brother
takes it upon himself to commit the act by shooting Jamal dead at a petrol station.
When Bjørn discovers Casparʼs betrayal over the killing, Casper ees with both
groups in pursuit. The lm ends with gunshots ringing out as Casper disappears
out of shot, his fate unknown but predictably grim.
Stylistically, the lm draws heavily on Refn’s Pusher series. However, the
lm lacks the ironic depth identied by Hjort. In contrast to Milo, the ethnic
immigrant Other is largely absent. Instead, the lm focuses on developing Casper’s
character and, as we experience each unfolding crisis from his perspective, he is
largely the only character with whom we identify. We empathize with his
reluctance to use violence and, despite his criminal behaviour, we understand
the enormous peer pressure he faces. Nørrebro is presented as a place of few
opportunities for Casper, and because we identify with him, it often feels as though
these limitations contribute to his participation in gangland activity. By contrast,
144 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
Jamal and Ali are simply opportunists whose interest in Casper is based on his
useful abilities as a thief. According to Schmidt:
What Danish culture (often encapsulated in the term “Danishness”) actually entails
is most frequently dened by stating what Danish culture is not, through the term
“un-Danishness.” Un-Danishness is afliated with particular aspects of a rather
crude understanding of immigrant culture.
(Schmidt 205)
To reinforce the contrasts between these apparent Danish values and those from
outside, the liberal-conservative coalition of 2001-2011 launched the værdikampen
initiative or “value struggle” plan, an agenda outlining the type of desirable
Danish-ness allegedly represented by the cohesive togetherness of the welfare
model (Schmidt 206). This cultural offensive was designed to reinforce apparent
contrasting cultures and practices and draw attention to those considered
undesirable. The coalition’s main targets were the Muslim minorities, who have
long been perceived as a threat to these values (Jønsson and Petersen 134).
Excluding several notable exceptions, such as Ole Christian Madsenʼs Pizza
King (1999) and Omar Shargawi’s Gå med fred, Jamil (2008) [Go With Peace, Jamil],
this wave of Danish genre lms position us to identify with a white male
protagonist. In Nordvest, there is a clearer distinction between how the ethnic
Danes and the new Danes interact with each other. Although Bjørn is evidently
cruel and unstable, there are ickers of a paternal bond between him, Casper and
Andy. This is especially resonant because father gures are often absent in this
genre. Although brief, these moments of camaraderie are distinctly different from
the boys’ experiences with Ali and Jamal. During a violent confrontation between
Jamal and Casper, Jamal declares “you’re either with us or against us” referring
to Casper’s new-found loyalty to Bjørn. However, the “us” he is referring to is
clearly a false one. Films like Nordvest represent the shattering of traditional
collectivist welfare logic. Simultaneously, the opportunistic immigrant Other
appears to pose the greatest threat to the imagined welfare values of inclusivity.
These representations seem to complement the dominant rhetoric of the
liberal-conservative era. The gangster motif has, in this example, helped to
maintain a clear division between two ethnic groups. To expand and challenge
these images, I now turn to a markedly different example and a unique
permutation of the gangster genre in Danish cinema.
MULTICULTURAL TENSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY DANISH CINEMA 145
Challenging Parallel Societies in Omar Shargawi’s Gå med fred,
Jamil (2008) [Go With Peace, Jamil]
While ethnicity is a recurrent theme in contemporary Danish feature lms, these
lms are for the most part made by Danes with ancestral ties to Denmark, and not
by “new” Danes or Danes with a bi-racial heritage.
(Hjort and Petrie 40)
In contrast to Nordvest, I claim that Omar Shargawi’s Gå med fred, Jamil (2008)
[Go With Peace, Jamil] plays with the rhetoric of the dominant host nation by
challenging the so-called parallel society concept. The concept of parallel societies
is used to describe ethnic minority communities who self-segregate themselves
or refuse to adopt the practices or values of their host nation. Parallel societies
are considered deeply damaging in Denmark, and the concept plays a key role in
party politics. Mikkel Rytter notes how in 2004, Denmark’s Minister of Culture,
Brian Mikkelsen of the Conservative People’s Party, delivered a speech where he
condemned the emergence of so-called parallel societies in Denmark citing their
apparent “medieval norms and undemocratic mindsets” (Mikkelsen quoted in
Rytter 45). These societies are viewed in contrast to the perceived Danish cultural
values of collective welfare consensus. I argue that Shargawi challenges the
parallel society concept by exploring the divisions within them.
The plot condenses the events of a single day into a fast-paced action revenge
format. In this respect, and in line with the medium concept theory, Shargawi
draws on the conventions of Hollywood action cinema, merging these familiar
visual tropes with the narrative sensibilities of an alternative Shakespearean
tragedy. Before emigrating from Lebanon to Denmark as a child, Sunni Muslim
Jamil (Dar Salim) witnesses the murder of his mother at the hands of the brother
of Mahmoud (Khalid Al-Subeihi), a powerful member of the Shia community. As
an adult, Jamil discovers Mahmoud is also living in Copenhagen and decides to
take revenge by murdering one of his key conspirators. In response, Mahmoud
sends people after Jamil insisting they bring him back alive. With his son in hiding,
Jamil’s desperate father tries to neutralize the conict with Mahmoud, pleading
with him not to propagate the cycle of vengeance. Jamil’s father tries in vain to
encourage his son to embrace the concept of forgiveness and begs him to consider
the future of his own young son Adam (Elias Samir Al-Sobehi). However, Jamil
refuses to let go of the past. When the conict escalates, Mahmoud’s accomplices
abduct Adam. When Jamil goes on a rampage, Adam is accidentally shot and dies
in his father’s arms on the pavement.
This time, Nordic prosperity and welfare provision play no role in the lives
of these characters. For Jamil, escaping Copenhagen and returning to his
146 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
homeland, Lebanon, is the focus of desire. Nothing in the lm speaks of Denmark’s
contemporary allure. In fact, Shargawi almost erases Denmark from the lm
entirely. There are no cultural landmarks; the cast are almost all new Danes, and
the lm’s language is predominantly made up of a variety of Arabic dialects.
Traces of Denmark are evident in Jamil’s young Danish-born son, Adam, as they
speak to him predominantly in Danish. Gå med fred, Jamil is also one of the few
European lms to feature an almost exclusively Arabic-speaking cast. Frustrated
by inaccurate and oversimplied portrayals of Muslims and Arabs in Danish
culture, Shargawi set out to create a frank and open account of the tensions within
small, insular Arab communities, balancing an explosive subject matter with a
desire to tell an authentic story. This inside-out perspective offers a unique take
on immigrant politics in Danish cinema. Shargawi plays with the values of
consensus, conformity, individualism, and solidarity—all used in Danish political
rhetoric—but his perspective comes from inside a seemingly ethnically-segregated
Denmark. Erasing Denmark was a strategic move where the lm becomes an
apparent space for exploring internal ethnic conict. The explicit use of the
gangster motif proves each parallel society is equally divided. At the centre of
each faction, families are searching for stability and suppressing the desire for
vengeance or retribution. Jamil is a conicted character. Like Casper, we identify
with him because of his tragic situation, trapped in an endless cycle of violence.
We also identify with his elderly father, who simply wants peace and consensus
between the two warring families. Like Casper, Jamil’s bond with his family,
particularly his young son, is the driving force behind his desire for a better life.
Amid the violence, there are moments where Shargawi emphasizes the bond
between Jamil, Adam, and his grandfather. These cohesive family values are not
unlike those purported to represent Danish values. Like his ethnic Danish
predecessors, Jamil is also divided by individual desire for vengeance and building
a life for his family.
Gå med fred, Jamil grew out of a shorter project that began in 2003. After
receiving 10,000 DKK from the Film Workshop, Shargawi pitched a three-minute
edit to Danish producers at the Cannes lm festival. After generating signicant
interest, Shargawi negotiated a deal with Zentropa (Jørholt 237–40). Speaking of
his position as one of the few “minority” directors, Shargawi states:
I live in Denmark and I make lms in Denmark, and that’s the starting point for
the lm. But the story could have played out anywhere. That’s one of the reasons
why Denmark is cut out visually. I’m not trying to hide that it’s Denmark, and the
characters do sometimes speak Danish, but I’m trying to capture what it feels like
to live in those communities, how people who are part of them see the world. I
think those immigrant environments are very similar across Europe. They’re small,
closed societies.
(Shargawi 242)
MULTICULTURAL TENSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY DANISH CINEMA 147
Shargawi denes himself as a Danish director and shuns the “immigrant
lmmaker” label. What is strikingly clear from Shargawi’s experiences in the
Danish lm industry is the way his status as a second-generation immigrant
appeared to carry more weight than his status as a lmmaker. Signicantly, in
his lm, Shargawi lets the conict play out without the interference of authority.
Those who represent the law and enforce the authority of the state are removed.
There are no police, no legal angles or perspectives, no state interventions of any
kind. This lack of authority stands to represent the decentralized nature of
diversity management. The gangs themselves often lack a collective authority.
There is no society to speak of, and I claim this is a deliberate ideological choice
designed to foreground the tensions and universal struggles of the protagonist
without the arbitrary and often misguided policies of Danish law. The Sunni-Shia
war is essentially just a framework for Shargawi, who also draws on the universal
themes of vengeance and honour that are not specically attached to any culture
or religion. However, by removing the Danishness, he helps us to understand the
limitations faced by directors of a non- or partially Nordic background. This is
because there is no political or historical depth to the conict explored in
Shargawi’s lm. As this political edge is also neglected in Western journalistic
circles, there is a danger that choosing to use such a framework and then glossing
over it with conventional Hollywoodized spectacle helps to maintain ethnic
division.
Some lm critics attacked Shargawi for failing to address the 2005 Prophet
Mohammed cartoon controversy in Denmark (Jørholt 246). However, Shargawi
defended his position, claiming that such criticism exemplied the
narrow-mindedness of the Danish lm industry. This kind of criticism signies
the institutional problems facing directors from minority backgrounds. Critics
clearly expected Shargawi, a Dane of Palestinian heritage, to address topical issues
related to Islamic fundamentalism. Not only that, but they expected him to discuss
how these issues have affected Denmark and the West. These expectations also
highlight another issue: that a single director from a minority background must
represent the views of the entire minority community. This all-encompassing
expectation, where minority directors are seen as “ambassadors,” reinforces the
naïve and reductive views of the industry.
“There is No Us”: Ethnic Wars and Failed Collectivist Logic in
R(2010) [R: Hit First, Hit Hardest]
I explore Michael Noer and Tobias Lindholm’s Ras another more complex
example of the tribal politics at work within Danish society. Ris a gangster lm
set in a hostile prison environment in contemporary Denmark. After he is jailed
for assault, young offender Rune (Pilou Asbæk) is thrown into a cut-throat
correctional facility where the rules revolve around racial “cliques” ghting over
148 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
a hidden narcotics trade. The ethnic Danes and new Danes largely made up of
second-generation Muslims each operate in separate units of the facility, and
their drug trading is intertwined with racial hatred and underhanded manoeuvring
on both sides. To survive, Rune is forced to align himself with neo-Nazi Carsten
(Jacob Gredsted), and his violent sociopathic sidekick, Mureren (Roland Møller).
Through his job as a dishwasher, Rune befriends Rashid (Dul Al-Jabouri), who
nds himself in a similar position on the ipside of the facility where he is a
reluctant member of the Arab faction, headed by the equally psychotic Bazhir
(Omar Shargawi). When a drug deal between the two gangs turns sour, Rune is
implicated and murdered in a horric assault perpetrated by members of his own
ethnic group. The murder is aided reluctantly by Rashid, who helps to lure Rune
to his death. The lm plays with Rashid’s character, keeping his motivations and
loyalties hidden until after the murder. However, during the nal act, the
perspective shifts to Rashid, and we learn that he is deeply affected by his role
in Rune’s murder. When he is shunned by his own clique for conspiring with a
rival gang, Rashid’s predicament feels grimly familiar. In an act of vengeance,
Bazhir throws boiling oil in Rashid’s face, a concluding act that indicates the cycle
of violence will simply continue.
The collectivist logic of each clique is based on specic codes. Each inmate
has a role to play in this hierarchy, and their perceived criminal skillsets dene
that role. Prisons are the designated area for the people (in this case men) society
has failed. This segregated environment symbolically captures the failure of
assimilation politics and mocks the perceived inclusivity of a collective value
struggle. In his analysis of the prison environment, Pietari Kääpä discusses how
“the microsociety of the prison is premised on a similar set of rules concerning
individualistic and capitalist exploitation, all in a distinctly multicultural (though
segregated) setting” (134). There is also a contextual signicance tied to the
environment of a state-run penitentiary institution. This prison is the ultimate
embodiment of state intervention, where every aspect of a person’s life is managed,
policed, and controlled. Not only has state intervention utterly failed to integrate
ethnic minorities into the system, but the prison forms a different type of parallel
society where both ethnic Danes and new Danes nd themselves trapped in
parallel positions. Supercially, the ethnic divisions between the two gangs appear
to echo the sentiments of Nordvest’s divisive racial separation. Here, while the
ethnic identities of each clique work under the logic of failed multiculturalism,
both ethnic groups are kept separate and pitted against one another. However,
unlike Nordvest,Rgoes further in framing ethnic division.
The corruption and literal backstabbing are universal traits inside this brutal
anti-society. Both Rune and Rashid are exposed to the full brutality of their own
ethnic clique. The cliques exist for the prot of individuals, and the politics of
racial segregation represent a secondary component in this ongoing battle over
drug debt and supercial codes of honour. There is virtually nothing separating
MULTICULTURAL TENSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY DANISH CINEMA 149
these factions or the way they operate. Both groups and the individuals within
them are all driven by self-serving greed, and use violence to control one another.
As the anonymous “R” title suggests, the lm could represent either or indeed
both characters. Equally, the leaders of each ethnic faction have far more in
common with each other than they do with Rune or Rashid. Although Noer and
Lindholm again prioritize the perspective of an ethnic Dane; as the narrative
develops, a parallel narrative unfolds involving Rashid’s character. Both are
trapped by the same people whose appetite for violence is not bound by racial
identity. Both men are reluctant members of their respective ethnic groups, but
they are nonetheless forced to conform and assimilate.
During a crucial scene in the white camp, a documentary on natural selection
plays in the background. The narrator espouses the virtues of difference and how
it denes us as a species. At this moment, the psychotic Mureren turns to Rune
and declares “there is no us.” This nihilistic Darwinian reference implies that the
survival of the ttest applies to those willing to use violence. However, violence
for the likes of Mureren and Bazhir is also about exerting power. In fact, for them,
it is more about power than survival. In R, we witness the ultimate evolution of
individualism; it is no longer just for prot or survival but also for sadistic control.
Rplays into the conformist agenda of Danish assimilation politics. It also
subverts and re-contextualizes the agenda of the welfare model where here any
sense of sameness is evident only in the shared capacity for violence in each unit.
In other words, their power-hungry greed makes both gangs one and the same
thing. Like Gå med fred, Jamil,Ralludes to the irony of the parallel societies concept
in Denmark. With its monocultural agenda and resistance to integration,
Denmark’s own party politics falls squarely into the denition of a parallel society.
Returning to Schmidt’s comments on how Danish-ness and Danish values
are dened by what they are perceived not to represent, R’s portrayal of a
two-sided brutality challenges us to question the meaning of any value system.
There are no real sides in this prison environment, only individuals.
Conclusion
In this article, I have argued the emergence of the gangster genre in Denmark
reects the country’s fragmented and contradictory approach to an emerging
multicultural reality. The rhetorical focus on monoculturalism in Danish politics
also goes some way to explaining the prevalence of the genre in Denmark above
its Nordic neighbours. Nordvest reinforces the mantra of us versus them where
social deprivation and violence are not explored on any meaningful level. Without
elaborating on the causes and complexities of such divisions, the lm fails to
provide any real insight into issues of racial segregation. Gå med fred, Jamil comes
from a place of exclusion and from a lm culture where minority lmmakers are
an exception. I suggest Shargawi’s lm is a subversive take on the parallel society
150 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES/ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA
rhetoric peddled by the liberal-conservative coalition. His inside-out perspective
is an essential development in the genre’s recent history precisely because it
highlights internal division. Lastly, although problematically shot once again
largely from the perspective of an ethnic Dane, Rforegrounds the rise of
individualism and greed, themes that resonate with the collapse of imagined
collectivist social values central to the welfare state model. Through the dynamics
of the prison system, the values of both gangs mirror the logic of the welfare
system in its current form, based on the competitive values of individualistic
neoliberalism. The corruption and backstabbing also complicate the politics of
racial division on both sides.
The key to understanding these lms lies in acknowledging how the division
is framed. While it is clear multiculturalism has failed in these narratives, some
present us with more complex ways of understanding why it has failed. As with
elsewhere, talk of closing borders and building walls is now commonplace in the
Danish media. However, as these genre lms demonstrate, problems are clearly
evident within the system itself. Curiously, most narratives are concerned with
second-generation immigrants. Largely, these are not lms about cultural clashes
between newcomers and the host population. Rather, they highlight how the
embedded failings of assimilation politics in Denmark have converged to create
tribal manifestations of ethnic division that now occur between an emerging
generation of Danes from different ethnic backgrounds. However, although they
are growing in sophistication, many examples fail to address the heart of the
issue, where the inclusivity of the welfare state remains reserved for the few.
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