Paradise Is Burning, from director Mika Gustafson,seems to be a story of youth and freedom, but is this really freedom? It is a coming-of-age story, but the passages that it marks have less to do with adulthood than with survival.
Three sisters, Laura (16), Mira (12), and Steffi (7), live with no parental supervision in a Swedish suburb. That may seem like a dream life for a child, but they get by with shoplifting (they have great strategies for it), and relying on the (sometimes) kindness of strangers.
They are experiencing a summer of freedom, interacting with peers. When Laura gets a phone call from social services setting up a meeting with their mother (who abandoned them around Christmas), Laura tries to find a way to cover, while not sharing that information with her sisters. But the deadline for the meeting looms.
Along the way there are rites of passage to celebrated, including Mira’s first period and Steffi losing a tooth. (Apparently, these things are done a bit differently in Sweden than here.)
While they are (for the most part) a unit, each of the three is developing interests of their own. Steffi wants to bring home stray dogs. Mira is trying a manage a bedraggled karaoke singer. Laura likes to break in to people’s houses just to hang out.
When Laura connects with an adult woman, Hannah, the adult is fascinated by Laura’s boldness, and asks to come along. The two spend time together, and Laura becomes more and more attracted to Hannah. For Hannah, this may represent an escape from the adulthood that she is facing.
While the sisters may seem happy (or at least not unhappy), viewers will see clearly that this is not an ideal life. That social services is about to intervene seems like good news, although it could result in separating the sisters.
This is definitely a story of those who have fallen through the cracks. Perhaps the social safety net will enter the picture. It will certainly be in the girls interest, but it will also have an emotional cost.
Paradise in Burning is in select theaters.
Photos courtesy of Room 8 Films.
