A completely crazy Norwegian miniseries! countryman, series co-produced by Arte and the Norwegian channel NRK and designed by Izer Aliu and Anne Bjørnstad (lilyhammer), follows the tribulations of a band broken arms in ankle with an islamist terrorist cell, which settle in the countryside in a farm to prepare their cruel intentions. A simple plan on paper, but that’s counting without the interference of the natives and the surprise arrival of a childhood friend, accompanied by his daughter. A squeaky comedy that turns into a lesson in tolerance to discover this Thursday at 8:55 p.m. on Arte.
The series begins when Marwan (Nader Khademi), Norwegian of Iranian origin, widower and unemployed, wants to take his daughter Kristin on vacation to her parents in Iran. There remains only a formality, to wait for her daughter’s passport to be obtained… But the latter is entrusted to her in-laws by the social services.
The story of a “good bad father”
“Marwan is a good bad father. He really wants to do well, but he doesn’t do the things a good father should do. He believes he is doing things correctly, because he was brought up like that by his father, to whom he has boundless admiration,” analyzes Nader Khademi, who 20 minutes met in 2021 at CanneSeries where the miniseries was crowned with the prize for best collective interpretation and the high school student prize.
Marwan then decides to kidnap his 5-year-old daughter. “I understand why he is thinking of doing it, even if I don’t understand why he is doing it! This kidnapping results from a misunderstanding to show his love”. To go green, he decides to join Adil (Ayaz Hussain), a former high school friend, who has just moved to a farm in the Telemark region, far from Oslo, for a while.
“The intentions of these three guys are not clear”
In this farm, Adil cohabits with the austere Khabib and Knut, converted to Islam under the name of Tariq, has also gone green. “The intentions of these three guys are unclear. They are in contact with a terrorist cell and have left Oslo to set up a hit for the latter. As this will take time, they must have cover. They decide to start making cheese. At first, they don’t know how to go about it… and end up producing this delicious cheese that everyone is craving. They are then faced with a dilemma: to make goat cheese or to pursue their dark design, ”sums up the actor.
“We welcome them with open arms”
The installation of Marwan and his daughter, unaware of the clandestine activities of the three acolytes, will disturb them, as will the warm welcome of the inhabitants of the village and the success of their halal cheese business. “They thought people were going to look at them weirdly, but we welcome them with open arms,” smiles Izer Aliu, co-creator and director of the miniseries. “They didn’t expect this. They get compliments even on their beards! “laughs Nader Khademi. “We showed the world, not as it is, but as we would dream it to be”, explains Izer Aliu.
To turn three Islamists in the midst of preparing for an attack into comedy anti-heroes, you had to dare! “When Anne Bjørnstad first told me about the project. I thought it was madness,” says Izer Aliu. But this transgressive, wacky and jubilant comedy intelligently questions our identities and amusingly explores these age-old questions: whose stranger are we? Where are we really at home? Will the warm welcome of the locals succeed in dissuading them from implementing their initial plan? “Sometimes people just need to feel like they belong somewhere,” concludes Nader Khademi. A great lesson in tolerance!