Review of 'A Home on Every Floor': Vivid memories defy a glorious childhood erased

A Home on Every Floor: Vivid memories defy a glorious childhood erased

Cast: Hanna Asefaw

Critic’s Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

Director: Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid

Duration: 11 minutes

Genre: Documentary, Drama

Language: Norwegian (with English subtitles)

Release: 2023

What’s it about?

A young adult struggles to come to terms with her departure from an enchanting and socially-satiating childhood, which she had spent at a large blue-collar locality.

Review

A Norwegian child of African immigrants is overcome with nostalgia while reliving her toddlerhood at a municipal housing project. As an adult, the protagonist and poet – Hanna – “revisits” the Sannerterrassen housing complex, a place which remains viscerally and inextricably lodged in her mind. Her first experiences of life and the world unfolded in this milieu, making it almost impossible for her to move on from a setting that helped define her.

Using the stunningly original and creative mode of miniature settings, Hanna draws us into the semblance of her childhood home. The doll’s house-like production design serves as a fitting re-creation of her favourite domicile that thrived so many moons ago. Even while she belonged to an alien family residing in the country, Hanna never felt alone in this 155-apartment working-class complex. 

On the contrary, Hanna’s neighbourhood served as an expansive support system. Here, she was able to forge profound and joyous friendships with children her age - like Anine and Kasper. In their company, Hanna encountered the perplexing and mystifying lives of the troubled adults around her. And in so doing, she comes to value the gift of family and togetherness.

Also, the largesse of candy-givers literally and figuratively made this a sweet world. This film’s trenchant examination of one’s childhood is bound to find jarring resonance with the viewers, leaving them both revelling and being puzzled from that special time in their lives. Indeed, this unusual celluloid outing coerces us to look back to an era that we may hold dear to our hearts, but that we can not really return to. 

The theme of this docu-drama takes a turn when the winds of change and the flux of capitalism enter the frame. But are we supposed to bitterly deny these eventualities? Plus, do we seethe in anger at those behind inevitable transformation? Regardless, A Home on Every Floor reminds us that while the physical space of our origins might be prone to change, its spiritual essence should never.