Izzat (2005) User Reviews

Strong plot..realistic events..overall worth seeing

[aqifali · 7/10 · 1 October 2006]

The word Izzat means 'respect' in Urdu. In a way the movie was all about gaining respect in society. Unfortunately many people enter in to a one way street to get their place in society. A street where there is no turning back...ever! This movie is about 3 boys who were disappointed with poor state of their migrant Pakistani families and the fact that very few Pakistani were enjoying real respect in Norwegian society at that time. One day they come across to a drug gang run by a very ruthless Pakistani 'Sadiq'. They grow up with the gang doing small jobs for them and ultimately becoming the core members of the gang. The main character of the movie Wasim comes across many ugly situations which were all due to his involvement with the gang. That includes shooting his best childhood friend, seeing his sister being raped by his enemies and trying to pay off his younger brother gambling debt. I don't want to spoil the movie for others by telling a lot but this movie does succeeds in gripping it's viewers with it's realistic yet ugly events in underworld crimes. You will almost wish for Wasim to somehow get out of the whole thing.

I will agree with one of the reviewers that acting might have been better in the movie. The Urdu acting was not fantastic either. But the movie still managed to grip me with its strong plot and realistic events. I will certainly recommend this movie for people who like gangster type movie with underworld background.

Better than expected!

[causemovement · 6/10 · 21 October 2005]

The fact that people have not learned that they can not see a Norwegian movie with high expectations is incredible. If you come expecting something good, or great, you should go for a different movie. That said.

As for the acting; there was little to no passion shown by the actors. This however portrays well the environment the "gangsters" come from as well as pre-dating the show from todays date. Poor acting, but it worked in a very weird way.

The retro view on things was quite nice and it really made the experience of the movie into something that I enjoyed.

The story is simple. Gangster, drugs and killing. During most of the film I was having flashbacks from "Menace II Society".

All in all, it felt like reproduction of most gangster movies, put into a new cultural setting and downsizing the actors and cinematography. Decent movie, not great, but over my expectations.

Life is a matter of honour- Great norwegian movie

[kurtnorthman · 6/10 · 3 November 2005]

This movie has it all, a good realistic story, good directing and a very good screenplay. Unfortunately, the acting is sometimes terrible. The main character, Wasim, is not this years Oscar's favorite. A couple of the other actors is also bad. This movie would have been av "section" 8, without any doubt, if it wasn't for the bad acting. The soundtrack is also superb with bands like Kjøtt and Raga Rockers. The violence is also portrayed quite realistic and without to much blood. Honour is an important theme in the name and as the title says in norway, "Livet er en æresak" Translated, "Life is matter of honour" The movie contains several humoristic scenes which fits the film nicely. Kurt, Arendal, Norway.

A production line of gangster clichés.

[Impossible_Aerodynamics · 2/10 · 24 August 2006]

First I have to say that I honour the director's attempt to create a hard hitting gangster "epic", if you could call it that. Second, I have to admit they failed. Here's why: The film is brought forward in the trailer as an action movie, but the trailer contains almost every action scene! And the action sequences weren't special in any way. Poor action design, simply. The budget wouldn't allow more spectacular events, of course, but I have seen directors pull off far more impressive action with only tenth the budget (El Mariachi anyone?).

It bothers me that when a crime epic undergoes treatment in Norway, they manage to toss in practically EVERY mafia clichè ever filmed. I really hoped they'd settle for something intriguing and original, not just the usual gangster mechanics seen a billion times on the silver screen already.

The acting is OK, but many performances borders on sub-standard... No one really excels and that is disappointing as you're watching the tedious plot lines play out over the screen as common deja vus.

Hadn't I been informed of this before I saw the film it probably wouldn't nag me at all: The main character's voice is DUBBED! Seemingly for qualified reasons, but horribly executed. The protagonist is a medium sized man, however he has the voice of a TITAN. If they couldn't cast a better lead, then why on earth would they dub him with such a terribly fake voice???

A lot of elements bugs me in this film, but one of the main shockers is that the bad guys don't age a day! We're introduced to them at the start of the picture as the young leads meet them by the railroad tracks. When we zoom 10-15years (don't remember exactly) into the future we meet the same bad guys. If the crew at least had TRIED to do some age altering make-up on these guys, it would be forgivable. But when a director doesn't have an eye for such "details", he doesn't qualify as a "master of his craft".

If you want to see a film so predictable as rain hitting the ground, go ahead, but you're probably better off wasting those 2 hours chewing gum instead...

Izzat - life is a matter of honor

[Hardkre · 8/10 · 9 October 2005]

This is actually the first movie made in Norway that tells a story from the Oslo underworld. back in the 80's and 90's a new breed of criminals was on the rise in Norways capitol, Oslo. they were more violent, more international and far more dangerous than we had ever seen before. Norwegian drug lords got new competition from immigrant gangs that wanted a bigger piece of the action. and in the fighting that followed there would be spilled a lot of blood before the situation stabilized itself.

this is director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen debut on the big screen and has formerly mostly been doing commercials and music videos. he says the inspiration for doing this film came from American gangster movies like good-fellas and the godfather and so on. but the strongest reason for why he wanted to do this film was the fact that he himself actually grew up in this environment when he was a kid, so he got first hand knowledge of these things, and a lot of the cast grew up with this as well which helps make the film more authentic.

we follow the life of three friends that grow up in the middle of all this. they are all sons of poor immigrant family's, but they feel Norwegian and expect the same respect that other Norwegians get. but with their poor background there is a long way to go if you want a nice job that pays well. so they decide to take the shortcut to status and respect through the gang East Side Crew which is led by the notorious Sadiq and his brother Khalid...

you will see nothing new in this film that hasn't already been seen before, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. in the action scenes you clearly see the director is widely inspired by john woo in how they play in slow motion and zoom inn on the bullets etc etc. this Action flick is actually quite satisfying to watch, and is well worth a look even for non Norwegians.

Terrible acting

[locholmez · 3/10 · 9 October 2005]

I still get flashbacks from this movie. Not from the violence, drugs or boobs, but from the terrible acting. Some scenes were actually embarrassing to watch. Part of the problem might be that Emil Marwa's voice is dubbed (because of his British accent), by Zahid Ali.

Norwegian movies tend to have this pain-in-the-ass acting problem, but this seemed to slowly vanish over the past years with help from great actors like Aksel Hennie, Kristoffer Joner, Per Christian Ellefsen and many(?) more. I might overreact, but Izzat does not in any way comfort me to believe we're still on this track.

The plot of Izzat is worth a 6/10, but the acting is just too damned painful.

Violent, real movie

[stigwaage · 8/10 · 10 October 2005]

Izzat may be the very first movie from Norway which can be classified as a good movie, not just a "good-to-be-Norwegians"-movie.

Izzat paints an image of Oslo, Norways capital, and its crime-environment in the mid-90's. We follow Wasim and his involvement in Westside Crew, the Pakistanian crime-gang.

What makes this movie extra special, is the realness of it all. Several Pakistanis which are familiar with the crime and the gangs in Oslo, say that the movie is extremely real, with the exception of a few details.

Unfortunately, Izzat has got a few problems with the acting. Both of Wasims friends, and his sister, suffers from bad acting.

The soundtrack however, is outstanding. Typical rock music from the mid-90's, and even better, several Norwegian bands! All in all, if you speak Norwegians, or if this movie is dubbed into English sometime, absolutely one of THE films this year.

I want my money back.... Horrible movie..

[benObel · 1/10 · 10 October 2005]

I went in to see this movie with high hopes... All the good reviews made me wanna check this cool ass norwegian action movie...

The script is OK, the acting is just terrible... It's awful... I was feeling sorry for them... I don't think any of them have any acting experience... What could have been a kick ass movie turned out to be the worst norwegian "action" movie..

We don't seem to care about any of them.. Where's the charisma??? I was just waiting for them to get killed... or at least get in to a fight...

Another thing that bothered me was the slow motion thing.... What the f...??? Come on people... It doesn't make that sequence any cooler, it just makes the movie longer... Which is a bad thing...

We don't want a bad action movie... we want a cool action movie with a cool main character and a cool villain... But NICE TRY... OUCH!!!!!

Badly dubbed mobster movie

[suspektfilm · 2/10 · 18 October 2008]

The only original about this movie is the extremely bad dubbing of the lead actor. The voice of the main character turns this movie into a comedy instead of an epic gangster movie. What was they thinking about? The script lacks nerve but still there are some good scenes when you mainly look at the photography and editing work. The problem with the movie is the lack of nerve which the dubbing has to take some of the responsibility for. It was disappointing for me as I love this genre and had high expectations after reading the critics and watching the trailer.

Norway still needs a good gangster movie and until that movie is made i rather watch the danish "Pusher"movies for the 6th time then suffer through this movie one more time.

Honour is all you got...

[freddy_at_home · 8/10 · 7 October 2005]

The new norwegian gangster movie delivers what it's promising. It kinda reminded me of A Bronx Tale from 1993 with Robert De Niro but with some more and detailed violence. The movie is great, the acting is awesome and the characters are brutal but real. I know this since I have been with these kind of people before and seen it upclose and personal.

I went to see this with a open mind, after seeing Uno on the cinema last year I kinda figured this would be some of the same but it were way better. I can safely recommend this to all of you out there. Just enjoy some gangster stuff taken from the reality and see what crime has become and how it got that way in Norway. I'm once again hooked and looking forward to the next great norwegian movie.

8 out of 10 stars in my book.

IZZAT - Life is a matter of honor

[janrogernielsen · 10/10 · 8 March 2006]

Izzat is a realistic portrait of the gang culture among immigrant children in Oslo in the 80-90's. The movie portraits the destiny of Wasim, Riaz and Munawar, three young boys growing up in Oslo's east side at the time. They find school hopeless and boring when they get drawn to the environment in East Side Crew -a gang ruled by the hardboiled brothers Sadiq and Khalid. It starts with petty theft, but soon develop into drug dealing, abuse and murder. The scriptwriters, both immigrants, grew up in Oslo east and observed the environment at close range and the director capture the story in an raw way. The movie also explains the big gap between cultures and why the gang environment could flourish the way it did. Izzat became a big hit in the movies and have been praised among the audience and critics.

Norwegian action at its best

[rogerkr · 8/10 · 18 November 2005]

Norway is a country where you don't very often see good action movies because of its need in resources and the fact that our directors haven't really had the talent for it. This is definitely an exception where we get to see realistic gun fighting scenes which where shot from the older sections of Oslo city. The movie sets a new standard for Norwegian action movies

Izzat starts out in the Pakistanian gang environment in Oslo in the early 80's and gives a realistic picture on how they played out their role in organized crime. Director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen grew up in the environment and used people he knows in his research for the film and that gives us a very realistic picture on how things where. I really enjoyed it and hope there is more to come !

Izzat = Heavenly

[tomma-1 · 9/10 · 22 February 2006]

After watching this movie, I just thought "what a movie!".

Well - Norwegian directors hasn't been the greatest and cleverest action-movie makers like Spielberg, Roland Emmerich and Peter Jackson. Every time a director tried, the movie failed.

But in 2005, the fresh director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen took, with his movie, a little step for a man but a big step for Movie-Norway.

The actors (Emil Marwa, Elyas Mohammed, et cetera) performs very well in the film. Everything feel so real, so intense.

We meet three Pakistani-Norwegian boys in Oslo, 1984, named Wasim, Riaz and Munawar. Those boys gets involved with the East Side Crew gang. First, there is small jobs like thieving and things like that - after ten years, they become dangerous, hard armed and drug-dealing gangsters.

Applause to Rolfsen and his cast!

I think this movie is great!

[rikku_x_ · 8/10 · 8 March 2006]

I think this movie was great! I really liked the story, and the script was good as well! And the actors were great too! and when you think it'sall over there is more to come!

The soundtrack is awesome!

It is violent though, and sometimes it even hurts to look at some scenes. But it's really worth it, I can totally relay to the characters in the story even though it's far from my own reallity.

The portray of the differen't charachers is totally something I recognise from other people.

I wanna see it again!!! :D

Great movie.

[BjernerT · 9/10 · 2 August 2006]

I think this movie is great! The story is good and the actors isn't so bad at all. It wasn't the best gangster movie i have seen, but not awful neither. The movie contains too much violence after my opinion, but the other scenes is funny and well made. For example when the two brothers have to wear pink, tight pants. That scene made me laugh a lot. The movie describes the violent gang "East side Crew" with cruel realism, and I enjoyed it. I think that the dubbed voice was well made. I didn't know that it was a "fake" voice when I saw it the first time. I recommend this movie for all gangster movie fans, that like movies with a lot of action.

The best movie made on Norwegian soil!

[pabben · 9/10 · 25 May 2006]

After years with poor Norwegian movies, i needed a kick in the arse to see a Norwegian movie. HOWEWER; If this is the new standard, that won't be a problem anymore. Things happening all the time so you can't be bothered to do anything else than see! A bit like "pusher", but not that awful violence, but you'll still get the point. A couple "not-so-good-actors" (can't call them bad), so that's what the difference from the "10". You'll probably have so much attention to the story that you'll won't think about that before it's to late. If you like movies without girl-meets-boy, but still feelings, this is something you can't miss!

Great action flick!

[mfaeste · 10/10 · 4 April 2010]

I saw this on Norwegian television again tonight and I must say - this is probably the best action flick Norway has produced.

It's tense, it's fast, and it's very well directed. Exciting from start to finish, and a good plot.

I love the end, when the main character tells us about the father - just like the film started.

Creds to the team behind this one - a must see. I also love that they have used music from the Norwegian ban Gluecifer a lot, perfect music for this action flick.

I hope we can make some more movies like this in the future.

This movie is exceptional

[imdb-6498 · 9/10 · 26 January 2006]

I'd give Izzat 9/10 for the first half, and 8/10 for the second, but I land on 9/10 when I have to choose.

I'm not a movie buff. Let me get that in. I'm not big on movies, I mostly go for books. But Izzat hit me in the stomach. This movie is just so amazingly _real_. I can't watch anything else for a week, at least -- seriously.

I'm sure this isn't helpful at all, if you haven't seen the movie! But let me put it this way:

I've bought about 10 movies on DVD _ever_. This will be number 11, as soon as it is out. _And_ it will be the birthday present of choice for a few non-Norwegian-native movie buffs of my acquaintance -- the kind of people I don't normally dare buy movies for.