''Ådalen 31'' (; released in the United States as ''Adalen Riots'') is a 1969

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Bo Widerberg Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Sweden, Swedish film director, screenwriter, writer, film editing, editor and actor. Biography Early life Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden. Career Widerberg was th ...

. It depicts the 1931

Ådalen shootings The Ådalen shootings ( sv, skotten i Ådalen) was a series of events in and around the sawmill district of Ådalen, Kramfors Municipality, Ångermanland, Sweden, in May 1931. During a protest on 14 May, five people were killed by bullets fired ...

, in which Swedish military forces opened fire against labour demonstrators in the

sawmill district of

Ådalen Ådalen is the river valley of the Ångerman River, downstream Junsele, in Sweden. It often refers to the broad, densely populated, fjord-like mouth of the river, in Kramfors Municipality Kramfors Municipality (''Kramfors kommun'') is a munici ...

killing five people, including a young girl. The film was

X-rated An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

and was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Plot

In 1931, the working-class family Andersson of

are taking part in a massive

sympathy strike Solidarity action (also known as secondary action, a secondary boycott, a solidarity strike, or a sympathy strike) is industrial action by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in a separate corporation, but often the same en ...

for workers in the town Marma. Harald, the father of the family, catches fish and manages to support his family while maintaining a good mood. Kjell, the oldest son, works at the office of the local sawmill manager, and is taught about classical music,

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and French pronunciation by the manager's wife. He plays in a jazz band with his friend Nisse with whom he also discusses things like girls,

erogenous zone An erogenous zone (from Greek , ''érōs'' "love"; and English ''-genous'' "producing", from Greek , ''-genḗs'' "born") is an area of the human body that has heightened sensitivity, the stimulation of which may generate a sexual response, su ...

s and

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

. As spring commences, the manager's daughter Anna comes home for school holiday. She and Kjell fall in love, and she becomes pregnant with his child. When the sawmill is to deliver a big order to America, strikebreakers are called in from other towns. The local strikers become furious and police has to be called in to protect the strikebreakers. Still they are attacked by an angry crowd while working at the Sandviken wharf outside

Kramfors Kramfors () is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010. The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs we ...

. Some are thrown into the water, while others are beaten bloody. Harald takes care of an injured strikebreaker, but is confronted by a group of angry workers. He tries to argue for them to calm down and rely on discussion instead of violence, but they do not agree with his stance. Because of the turbulence, military troops arrive to ensure safety. It is also decided by the County Administrative Board that the strikebreakers should be prohibited from working, but this information doesn't reach the upset locals, who decide to march to the locality where the strikebreakers are staying to get rid of them. When the military troops fail in persuading the participants to stop, they open fire. Five people are killed and five more are injured. Among the dead are Harald Andersson, Nisse and a young girl who had only been a bystander. Around the same time, Anna returns from

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

where she has had an abortion arranged by her mother. When Kjell is told about the abortion by Anna's father, he interprets it as if he isn't accepted within the bourgeois idyll. A

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

is proclaimed. While Kjell is occupied as a strike guard, he meets the man who had previously argued with his father. The man claims that the father wasn't innocent, since he had helped to divide the workers. Not until now they were united. Kjell does not agree, instead claiming that education is the key to a better society. Slowly, the Andersson family recover from the loss, and eventually the factories open again.

Selected cast

Peter Schildt Ernst Peter Jurgen Schildt (born 9 June 1951 in Stockholm) is a Swedish actor, screenwriter, film director, theatre director, etc. Schildt began acting at Vår teater, a children's theatre in Stockholm, as a child. He participated in theatre ...

as Kjell Andersson *

Kerstin Tidelius Kerstin Martha Tidelius (14 October 1934 – 15 February 2023) was a Swedish actress. Born in Stockholm, she worked mainly on stage with a total of about 20 film and TV appearances. Her most notable performances were Ingrid Löfgren in the long ...

as Karin Andersson * Roland Hedlund as Harald Andersson * Marie De Geer as Anna Björklund * Anita Björk as Hedvig Björklund *

Olof Bergström Olof Bergström (21 November 1919 – 22 November 1984) was a Swedish actor. He appeared in 50 films and television shows between 1943 and 1984. Selected filmography * 1945: ''Oss tjuvar emellan eller En burk ananas'' as Gustav, Olle's frie ...

as Olof Björklund * Jonas Bergström as Nisse * Tommy Malmström as angry young communist * Olle Björling as strikebreaker *

Pierre Lindstedt Pierre Ernst Vilhelm Lindstedt (born 15 August 1943) is a Swedish actor. He has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since 1966. He is the son of actor Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt. Selected filmography *'' Ormen'' (1966) *'' The Emigra ...

as supervisor * Stefan Feierbach as Åke Andersson * Martin Widerberg as Martin Andersson

Critical reception

"Beautiful yet uninspired" was the assessment of

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

. "Lush and lyrical as it is, it’s fundamentally didactic, with stereotyped social-realist characters. And because Widerberg seems to work best in vignettes and to have architectural problems when he’s working on such a large scale, his argument isn’t clear; he makes the little points but not the big ones. So when the violence erupts, we don’t really understand its political significance – we’re left 'appreciating' it, in a rather embarrassed way, for its pictorial values."

Awards and nominations

Widerberg won the award for Best Direction, and actor Roland Hedlund won for Best Actor at the

6th Guldbagge Awards The 6th Guldbagge Awards ceremony, presented by the Swedish Film Institute, honored the best Swedish films of 1968 and 1969, and took place on 13 October 1969. ''The White Game'' directed by Grupp 13Grupp 13 is a film collective consisting of ...

. Internationally, the film won the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for both the

and the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

. It won the prestigious

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

of the

Belgian Film Critics Association The Belgian Film Critics Association (french: Union de la critique de cinéma, UCC) is an organization of film critics from publications based in Brussels, Belgium. History The Belgian Film Critics Association was founded in the early 1950s in Br ...

References

External links