Adalen 31

Director: Bo Widerberg
Year Released: 1969
Rating: 1.5

In 1931 Sweden, workers are going on strike due to cutbacks on wages, but when the industrialists bring in strike-breakers things get hostile ... and then the military shows up, killing several people (according to the credits at the end, this forced the nation to reconsider their values).  Widerberg's footage of young people playing instruments, learning about art, hypnotizing girls to take their clothes off (a thatch of pubic hair is presumably what landed this its X rating) and blowing bubbles is mixed with images of adults being gunned down in the street (it's an uneasy combination) - later, when a father of two is revealed to be one of the victims, it's hard to care because not much was previously revealed about him or the other participants.  If this truly was a landmark event in the Nordic country's history, shouldn't it feel more ... epically depicted and urgent?