The Punk Syndrome

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät is a punk band in Finland. All four members have learning disabilities and the band was formed in 2009 at a workshop set up for adults with disabilities. They write their own songs, and the subjects come straight from their own lives: care homes, doctors, nobody taking them seriously. The documentary follows them from the rehearsal room to the studio and on to a European tour. The film was co-directed by Jukka Kärkkäinen and J-P Passi. The camera does not pity them and does not make them exemplary either; they argue, they fall out, they squabble over the front seat on the bus, and all of that is in the film. The band became known after this documentary and represented Finland at Eurovision in 2015. Eighty-five minutes. The film's strength is that it makes four musicians its subject rather than disability.