Upperdog

Axel and Yanne are half-siblings. As children they are adopted to Norway together, but their paths separate the moment they arrive: Axel to a wealthy family on the west side of Oslo, Yanne to an ordinary family on the east. Yanne remembers the journey; her younger brother does not. She has no idea where he is now. Sara Johnsen's film brings the two of them closer without staging the reunion scene you expect. The telling takes up class difference directly: two children from the same place, two entirely different lives. The film presents adoption neither as a rescue story nor as an accusation. It took five awards at the 2009 Amanda Awards, best Norwegian film and best director among them.