Displaced Perssons - a wonderful story of family and finding somewhere to call home

This heart-warming document tells the story of the Persson family – Pelle, who moved to Pakistan 40 years ago, his wife Shahmin and their daughters, Zahra and Mia, who were both born and raised in Pakistan, looking at their life as they move to Pelle’s native Sweden.  Pelle hopes to give his daughters more freedom and safety, and Sweden has been built up almost as a paradise in the daughters’ eyes.  But although Pelle’s happy-go-lucky attitude has made him popular in Lahore, it is perhaps not quite suited to the bureaucracy that he is confronted with on trying to re-establish his life (and official ‘existence’) in Sweden.

The Persson family are ideal subjects for a documentary. It is impossible not to warm to them and become emotionally involved in their story.  The affection between the family members is palpable and gives you hope they can overcome the struggles in their path – from financial insecurity and homesickness to doubt and separation.   These central characters are backed up by a highly entertaining supporting cast, particularly Pelle’s siblings who have not seen him for decades but (at first tentatively) embrace the new family in the caravan in the back garden.  Although the film makers present them a little too often as demonstrating some naivety, they on the whole manage to get the balance towards presenting the family in a good-natured and non-patronising ways – though this may have been through sheer force of personality on the part of the family.   On the most part, the cultural changes between Pakistan and Sweden are brought out well by letting us see it through the eyes of the family rather than trying to hammer it home artificially.  These are funny, warm, and interesting people who drive the narrative and refuse to be downcast by any bump in the road.

The film is also very thought provoking on what being home means.  Each member of the family has their own interpretation and their own way of adapting to new circumstances and building a new sense of home.  For the most part, it tries to see the world as the Perssons do, each place, each home, has its good and bad aspects and as long as you support the people around you, and are supported by them in turn, you can find the best in it.  This is certainly a film that believes in the goodness of people.

If there was one let down for me, it was the style of the voice-over narration.  Although it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the film – the Persson family shone too much for this – it did give me a sense of an occasionally slightly judgemental tone from the film makers towards Pakistan.  Presumably aiming for a wry, novelistic tone, the narration sometimes moved beyond the merely expositional to offering up an interpretation of the next scene or segment rather than letting the viewer decide for oneself.   As alluded to above, occasionally the family’s naivety was hammered home a bit too much either by the edit, or by the voice-over. The effect of feeling like I was being asked to filter the story through a certain viewpoint made me aware that we had no perspective on why Zahra and Aun end up staying in Pakistan longer than expected. We are already aware of the often horrifying attitude towards women in Pakistan – in the film we hear about the threats received from the girls’ maternal uncle which has accelerated the decision to move back to Sweden. The delay in their return to Sweden seemed to be told in a way to force us to assume that it is caused by similar misogynistic reasons.  This may well be the case, but then why not show us this rather than tarnish everyone, including Aun, with the same brush.  It is almost as if the film makers didn't quite trust enough how strongly the film has something to say without them adding a particular perspective – but the characters and story are so strong that they didn't need to.

However, this was just one minor part of a very funny and engaging film with a lot of heart.  The film makers have found a terrific story and mostly told it in an entertaining and sympathetic way which seemed to have the whole audience entranced.  It makes their rather unusual story feel very universal and draws out the story in a way to ensure it has a deep emotional resonance. The Persson family are delightful people to spend time with and I got really caught up in their happiness. In keeping with the storybook narration, here’s hoping this is a family that lives as close to a happy-ever-after as is possible.