For me, as a swede, it was very interesting to watch this old Italian documentary about my country. Italians were, during the 1960s, quite fascinated about how things worked in our society, and about the lack of "Christian morality" among the godless Swedish citizens, as they saw it.
So did they paint a correct picture of Sweden? Well, we were and still are one of the most secularized countries in the world, and that I'm very proud of. Religious beliefs have had very little impact on our society during the last 80 years, and that is of course one of the reasons why we seemed so liberal in the eyes of the Italians. Everything in this documentary is true to some extent, but things have also been vastly exaggerated.
So what did we learn from "Sweden - Heaven & Hell"?
- That Swedish teenage girls celebrate the Italian saint Lucia on the 13th of December every year. They go up very early in the morning, dress up in white gowns, and visit retirement homes where they sing special Saint Lucia songs to the elderly.
- That Swedish schools give sex education to kids.
- That teenage couples can have sex in their parents' home without them minding. The mother even serves them breakfast in bed the morning after..:)
- That there is a lot of vandalism going on, and that there's an unrest among teenagers and they rebellion against the society.
- That swedes are very tolerant of people from other cultures and races.
- That there are many drug addicts on the streets.
- That Swedish women have taken control over their sexuality.
- That you can find vending machines that only sell condoms in every other street corner.
- That most women are blonde, tall and beautiful.
- That there's a high suicidal rate.
- That alcohol can only be bought in government-controlled stores, and despite this "solution", that swedes are still drinking alcohol in a highly irresponsible manner.
- That Swedish women fight for equality (gasp!)
- That Swedish girls during the winter take steam baths and then run out naked and jump into ice cold water.
- That Swedish girls during the summer sunbathe naked on cliffs.
...and most importantly
- That there are clubs where lesbians can eat, drink, dance and socialize with lilkeminded women.
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