Play

In central Gothenburg, Sweden, a group of black boys, aged 12-14, robbed other children on about 70 occasions between 2006 – 2008. The thieves used an elaborate scheme called the ‘brother trick’, involving advanced role-play and gang rhetoric. They did not have to resort to physical violence or threats.

In a shopping mall in downtown Gothenburg, five young boys accost another group of three young boys to ask them for the time. When one of them pulls out his cell phone to look at the time, he is accused of having stolen the phone from the first boy’s “little brother”, which he categorically denies. The five boys then suggest that these other boys accompany them a short distance away to show the phone to its supposed rightful owner, said little brother, to clear things up.

Play is an astute and humorous observation, based on real cases of bullying, that deliberately plays with preconceptions, and our expectations that it’s all going to end badly. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs