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The Truth about Norway
Norway in 3 motion pictures
Norway is a very peculiar country with a strictly defined culture. In the years I was living there, several situations I experienced or testified made some movies popped into my head from time to time. So if I had to summarise this mysterious culture in three pictures, they would be:
The Stepford Wives
You know that movie where everything appears to be perfect when seen from the outside? Well, that’s how Norway looks like at first sight. Seen from the distance, it looks like the portrait of perfection! Everybody is beautiful and pleasant, things seem to run smoothly and easily, it’s like paradise on Earth. But once you are living there, then it’s a whole new story as you start noticing all the little tweaks of that so-called paradise. (But isn’t that valid for any country?)
As time passes, you start feeling like the main character in The Stepford Wives sensing that something is off. This apparent tranquility is often a mask for dark truths lying underneath. Either in the shape of racism, drugs or depression, these traits never come out for the sake of appearances. Politically correct is the expression at hand in this land and these secrets are tossed aside as inconvenient truths that no one really wants to be bothered by.
