Elisabeta Bostan: Ma-ma

Also known as Rock'n Roll Wolf, or, more famously in Norway, Med Grimm og gru. :-D More info on IMDb, here. This is a really weird musical that you mostly only have to mention to Norwegians of my generation to make us fall over ourselves in fits of nostalgia. Our national broadcasting company, NRK, used to show this movie every so often in the early 80s, and we all watched it and were warped by it. Like I said, it is really weird. It's based on the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale about the Big Bad Wolf and the poor little goats that he wanted so dearly to eat ... but it's a musical version with sort of rock music. It was a collaboration between Romania and the USSR and France - I know, right?? Can you just imagine?? When we were little we watched this bizarre creation and we were just transported to a magical fantasyland. :-) Watching it again now is ... umm ... perhaps not quite as magical. But it does bring back wonderful memories of Christmas past and many inspired childhood moments. :-)

This movie is pretty old now - it's actually just as old as I am, it was made in 1976. :-) And for the longest time it was never on TV here. Those of us who remembered it grieved and those who did not remember were consumed with curiosity ... as well as being the object of much wonderment among the fan group, because how on earth could they not remember?? My friend trilltrall is one of these - he'd never seen the movie until KAS and I took him to a screening of it at the Cinematheque here in Oslo ... I think it was last year. Seeing it on a big screen was amazing. A-maz-ing. Of course they sold out both screenings. And everyone there was our age. :-D It speaks to us ... !!

NRK have also realized this, and they have now been showing it regularly for the past few years, once or even twice a year. Often around this time of year, which is a season when Norwegians like to watch the same old Eastern European weirdness on TV that we've always watched. (Tri orísky pro Popelku, I'm talking to you ... we luvz you!!) And that's the reason I've chosen this movie as the topic for my blog post today - it's on TV tonight. Wahey! But ... no! Tonight is when I'm going to see the movie! The movie! Record, record, record ... which I've already done twice, or is it three times ... but you can never be too sure.

7:30pm on NRK3. Don't miss it unless you absolutely have to. ;-) For those of you who for obvious reasons will have to miss it, and who have quite possibly never heard of it, here are a couple of samples for your viewing pleasure. Yay, youtube. :-) The first is perhaps the most well known song from the musical, the title song, in a way. It's the song that Mrs Rada, the mother goat, sings to her kids (literally! :-D) to let them know that she's come home from the fair and it's safe to let her in. The second clip is IMO the coolest scene in the movie - I've always loved this scene - it's a confrontational duet between Mrs Rada and Titi Suru, the wolf, where she doesn't mince words telling him that if he tries to help himself to a dinner of tender young goat, he'll be sorry. >:-)

This is the English-language version, with ancient Norwegian subtitles.

My fellow countrymen: Don't miss it! :-)