The Miracle of Spång Seagull begins with documentary filmmaker Maria Fredriksson instructing the Norwegian sisters Kari and May to shoot the opening scenes multiple times; this is the stark vision of a filmmaker trying to manage his non-fiction material. Yet, no matter how hard real life tries to manage, it has its own wildly unfolding habit – and it certainly proves to be so in this movie whose surprising twists and turns transform what seems kind of incredible. the tale turns into a completely different eye-opener.
But what’s craziest is when Fredriksson’s documentary comes to a completely unexpected ending, suggesting that our stories are perhaps not governed by fate, luck, or a higher power. Instead, with a little effort (some honest, some not), we have the power to write the narratives we want, or at least best suit our needs.
Highlighted at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival (premiering on June 11), The Miracle of Spång Seagull proceeding with an astonishing development. While visiting her sister Kari in Sweden, May injured her tailbone while riding a water slide at a local amusement park. Raising a devout Christian, May took this as a sign that God wanted her to stay in Sweden (a pious idea, no doubt supported by the whale-shaped car). She convinced Kari to help her find a flat and, not least, a special still life painting to hang in it. While visiting one such residence in Gullspång, they found the same painting May had envisioned, and two more next to it. “For God’s sake, there are three of them,” thought Karl, taking this as a symbolic representation of the holy trinity. “It means something!” Both women were sure that an important event was about to occur.
They were right. Months later, when they went to the estate agent’s office to sign the paperwork for the apartment, they encountered the seller and couldn’t believe their eyes: the woman was the spitting image of their late sister Lita. “It was a miracle and just the beginning,” says Kari. In that respect, he was right. The similar was named Olaug, and until the age of 18 everyone called her Lita. She also shared the same birth date as Kari and May’s sister she. And as Olaug eventually learned, he had been adopted as a baby by his wealthy family in northern Norway. Also, Olaug’s birth and baptismal certificates had inaccurate dates (for reasons he didn’t understand) that hinted at something strange, and when he, Karl and May did a DNA test, they found a match. Reportedly, Olaug was a long-lost member of their family.
How can this be? After this revelation, regrouping with the trio (and their relatives), The Miracle of Spång Seagull offers a fairly plausible (albeit surprising) explanation: Lita and Olaug were twins, and in 1941 Norway their parents separated them to prevent the invading Nazi forces from abducting them, who liked to experiment on the twins. Lita’s nanny remembers being told that the baby’s sister was stillborn, and hearing this, the pain on Olaug’s face echoes in additional photos of the now-aged woman as she grapples with the abandonment of her parents, sensing that she was stillborn for life. the feeling of missing something (or someone) and having a ghost on their skin. While Kari, May and her brothers Arnt and Lita’s daughter Trine are particularly proud of Lita’s face, features and distinctive demeanor, they can’t help seeing Olaug as their resurrected relative.
This is surprisingly just the beginning. The Miracle of Spång Seagullshocking. Kari and May inform Olau that Lita was found dead on the shore of Lake Sigernes in Kongsvinger on July 29, 1988. Lita’s death was considered suicide due to the pill bottles found around her body. If that didn’t hurt their religious clan enough, Lita was rumored to be involved in an embezzlement scandal that coincided with her split from her partner at work, Steinar, shortly before she took her life. Olaug investigates, making sure her twin won’t kill herself, and as Oslo police officer Anne-Grethe says in a new interview, there’s actually more to this story: Unbeknownst to Kari and May, a subsequent autopsy determined that Lita was dead. due to heart failure. Unfortunately, though, that bomb didn’t quite make sense either, especially in light of the crime scene filled with pill bottles and the claims of witnesses today who gave a complex account of Lita’s last days.
The Miracle of Spång Seagull a cinematic Matryoshka doll and director Fredriksson tell his layered saga with candor that can be downright bizarre, especially when Olaug comes into conflict with his new siblings, whom he disapproves of as uninspiring, poor, and deeply religious. This friction soon leads to questions not only about the legitimacy of their connection, but also about whether everyone is completely candid about their role in this incident. At the same time, the movie slowly evolves from a soap opera to a possible true crime murder mystery, and Olaug – and later Kari and May – becomes convinced that Lita is the victim of a murderer who may be imminent. him.
Inside The Miracle of Spång Seagull‘s closing passages converge in ways that are real, manufactured, and ethereal, more confusing than illuminating, and director Fredriksson never fails to tie things up with a beautiful arc. On the contrary, in response to a momentous event, he literally interrupts the action to express his troubled confusion about what is going on and his growing suspicion that he has been deceived. Moreover, the fact that Fredriksson’s on-camera presence is not always intentional reinforces the fluid nature of his portrait, whose style is as captivating as his surprises.
As May looks at the still life that inspired this adventure, she thinks it is “in the eye of the beholder” to interpret the images (and her author’s purpose). If nothing else, it’s fascinating The Miracle of Spång Seagull It certainly confirms this sentiment.