Värn / Redoubt

At the height of the Cold War, farm worker Karl-Göran Persson is making his isolated house bomb-proof. He collects scrap metal, which he pours into the walls, and obtains old train tracks to construct a non-collapsible roof. His efforts to build a fortress for himself and his neighbours are met with bewilderment – except by the children. When they come by, Karl-Göran, who is a bit of a child himself, plays tag with them. Even as a boy, director John Skoog was fascinated by the anecdotes about Persson, who lived in southern Sweden and was deemed crazy by those around him. The black-and-white images convey an idea of the physical strength he needs for his construction project. To the amusement of the local residents, he transports all materials by bicycle. The more the house turns into a bunker, the quieter it becomes inside. As the events detach from a specific point in time, and a pervasive anxiety creeps into the scenes. Would Persson still be an outsider today?