Sweden Heaven and Hell
Luigi Scattini
KlubSuper8
During
the 1960’s cinema explored many new directions, one of the more unusual was that
of the Mondo film. Mondo films were pseudo documentaries which focused on
extreme, unusual and bizarre situations and usually mixed staged scenes with
real footage (the word Mondo means world). In many ways these films evolved
from the early “health” film genre where scenes of a sexual nature could be
shown as they are justified as educational, these early films ranged from
Venereal Disease education titles to those on teenage rape, abortion and
underage sex and always attracted a large audience. As “health” films became
less successful with the advent of more lax censorship laws during the Sixties,
the Mondo documentary was born.
The
genre achieved worldwide prominence with the release of the wild Mondo Carne
(it’s a dog’s world) and the films that followed it. In a strange way Mondo films were an attempt
to deal with the new world that was opening up during the period. As
communication became global and immigration increased, customs and lifestyles
from other cultures were brought to the attention of the west and the Mondo
film explored these, albeit with a condescending tone and a dose of
exploitation.
Sweden
Heaven and Hell was made at the height of the Mondo fad by Luigi Scattini, it
was filmed in Sweden but without permission or appearance releases and was
certainly not well received. It is a classic exploitation film but with a tone
which is far more critical and condescending than even found in the Mondo Cane
series; at times it borders on being anti-Swedish constantly seems to lambast
the Swedish for their open approach to sex. It is a strange film in that the
commentary is so puritan and narrow that even at the time it would have been
somewhat out of step with the trends in cinema, in 2008 the commentary is so
politically incorrect it is laughable.
The
structure of the film seems to be to cover as much controversial material as
possible, sex, sex and more sex, abortion, rape, people dying alone in old
age homes, street gangs, drugs etc etc.
The scenes discussing rape are outrageously over the top (suggesting rape
causes lesbianism) and the scenes in the lesbian bar have an astoundingly
homophobic commentary, while of course showing the women kissing each other and
in the most titillating poses as possible.
However,
these things do not make this a bad film !! Watched today it is a rip roaring
politically incorrect comedy. It is obvious many of the scenes have been faked
and the commentary is so offensive, so conservative that it is both infuriating
and funny. If you watch this with a broad sense of humour you will marvel at
the filmmakers bigotry and laugh at loud at the way in which he chooses the
most sexually charged scenes to show and then complains about it !! There is
even an apocalyptic segment discussing Swedish underground shelters and how
they want to be some sort of new “adam and eve” after the nuclear winter! A
bizarre titbit to notice is that the soundtrack features the song
”Mah-na-Mah-na” later to become a hit in The Muppet Show.
This
is Mondo cinema at its most outrageous and since it is a very rare film it is
great to see it made available. Out of all the Mondo films this is the hardest
to find and it is great to see such a high quality release on DVD. Klubsuper 8
have done a superb job, the film is a marvellous print and the sound is as
clear as can be.
This
is a real winner and worth having in any Cult and Mondo films lovers library.