Uncle Oscar
Uncle Oscar is a comedy/family movie that was showing in Norwegian
theaters in 1997. The story is set in the 1970’s in the small rural
community of Trøndelag, Norway. It is the burlesque and comical stories
about the sheep farmer and bachelor "Uncle Oscar" by Torvald Sund that is
here transferred to film. The film has a deliberate local sense to it, seen
both in the retaining of the unpolished local dialect, through the manner
of storytelling and the use of local actors. The figure Uncle Oskar has
achieved a cult status in Trøndelag/Mid-Norway, and the books as well as
the film have reached a wide audience here. Enthusiasts are still
requesting the DVD of Uncle Oscar and regularly people call or e-mail tales
of their unreserved pleasure gained from watching this movie. The film
seems to reach an audience beyond the usual movie-goers, appealing to
toddlers as well as old people.
There is something trustworthy and easily identifiable about the character
of Uncle Oskar. He is the man that in good faith tries out his
authoritative ideas of child-rearing on the eleven year old “Lad”, the
narrator in the film, all the while courting the lad’s mother. Uncle
Oskar has been accepted as a legitimate expression of the storytelling
tradition in Trøndelag/Mid-Norway: the film has become part of the
cultural identity in the small communities of Trøndelag.