The Other Side of Sunday (Søndagsengler) (1997)

A powerful film with simple, heartfelt performances by all.

[font=Century Gothic]If it was not hard enough being a teenager growing up in the 1950's, in "The Other Side of Sunday," Maria(Marie Theisen) has the added ordeal of her father(Bjorn Sundquist) being the local priest, leading an especially joyless and repressed household where piano playing is banned on Sundays and Maria is scheduled for private lessons after a slightly less than perfect report card.(Oh yeah. No farting at the kitchen table.) While preparing for her upcoming confirmation, Maria's one of source of happiness is her crush on Mrs. Tunheim(Hildegun Riise), a rectory worker...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The Other Side of Sunday" is an enjoyable coming of age movie that would be routine if not for its religious themes. As Maria is growing up, she is starting to think for herself, especially concerning religious dogma which she is starting to find a little silly, in the process overcoming the state of ignorance she had been kept in. All of which is represented by the rite of confirmation which officially is a way for a person to become a full member of the church while at the same time becoming an adult in a secular fashion.(My first quarrels with religion also happened around my confirmation.)[/font]