Recently I read in the paper that one of our tv channels was showing the movie Lilja4ever. I haven’t seen it myself. It seemed to be so tragic and that type of movie is just too painful for me to watch. I’m guessing most grown women and the majority of teenage girls react that way too. Hopefully, most grown men will feel that way as well.

Unfortunately, it seems teenage guys don’t react like normal humans. A friend of mine watched the movie years ago when it was in the cinema. While he was sitting there, there was also a gang of teenage boys. Each time Lilja was raped or whatever happens in the movie (I didn’t want to find out exactly what happens in the movie), those guys were cheering.

If Lukas Moodyson had wanted to get to most members of the audience, the main character should have been a guy being abused. That might have gotten to the guys too, because it would have hit closer to home. Shook them up more. And that’s probably what it takes. As long as that sort of thing only happens to ‘others’ and not ‘us/normal people/guys, the majority of guys in the audience will feel pretty secure. Cool. Awesome. And so on.

It’s time for those guys to wake up and realize that more or less anyone can be a victim, if you’re unlucky. Abusers, on the other hand, are still, if not all of them, mainly men.

So now I’m looking for a movie like Lilja 4ever, but where the violence and the degradation happens to a guy. Because that happens too. Then maybe at last part of the movie audience will wake up and see what’s going on. Not cool entertainment, but a wakeup call. A plea for them to care or at least not hop on the abuser train, or maybe be a spectator and cheer the others on, those who dare.