Norwegian director Ingvild Søderlind says that the 2001 killing of Benjamin Hermansen was a “wake-up call for the whole nation.”

Hermansen, a teenager born to a Norwegian mother and a Ghanaian father, was stabbed to death by neo-Nazis. 

“It was a tragic culmination of a wave of neo-Nazism in Norway in the ’90s. But it also resulted in a large anti-racism movement,” she recalls. Still, for the longest time, people were too scared of the film she wanted to make.

“The Murder of Benjamin” is the closing the 54th Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund.

“So many said: ‘We don’t want to show the perpetrators.’ Because of that, it was very difficult to fund it – until I joined forces with producer Thomas Robsahm [of Nordisk Film Production]. Unfortunately, as we were making the film, we experienced that its theme was becoming increasingly relevant. They are rising again.”

The team has already experienced hate following the release of the trailer. 

“We had to remove some comments because they were so offensive,” she says. 

“I expect some backlash and even sympathy for the perpetrators from some young people. But I also hope these debates will raise awareness of microaggressions and racism.”

In “The Murder of Benjamin,” Søderlind follows multiple points of view: Those of Benjamin himself, his killers, and his mother, fighting for a fair trial. 

Marit Hermansen, who passed away in 2019, became an activist after the tragedy. 

“I met her. She became a known figure in Norway and a woman who spoke out against racism. She initiated several initiatives to encourage schools to prevent racist behavior.”

“At first, she wasn’t supposed to play such a big part in this story. But the more I developed it, the more interested I became in her. I’m also white, so to take on a film that talks about these issues, I had to take on her perspective. In the film, she says to Benjamin: ‘I don’t know how it feels.’ And neither do I.”

She’s played by Laila Goody alongside Elikem Leon Akpan, cast as Benjamin, and Magnús Blöndal Jóhannson as the boy responsible for his death. 

“I wanted to show the perpetrator because he’s a typical example of someone who got into an extreme environment in search of shelter and safety. He’s well-known in Norway – he talked about his background in an interview with the national news,” says Søderlind.

“Members of the Oslo neo-Nazi movement in the 90s announced themselves as ‘the protectors of the society.’ For me, it was important to make a film about being outside of the society. These three people all look for belonging.”

She wanted to be “honest with the audience” about the story – starting from that unflinchingly direct title. 

“I know it’s painful, but so is the film,” she states.

“Benjamin was a Norwegian boy, regardless of the color of his skin. It was important to say this clearly and show him as a normal teenage Norwegian boy. We didn’t want to turn him into a saint. We wanted to show a normal life that has suddenly came to an end.”

The film, sold by TrustNordisk, is finished. But Søderlind’s job isn’t quite done. 

“My dream scenario would be for everyone to understand their personal responsibility in how they carry themselves through this world and how they treat other people. I’m going to show the film to many young people, also in schools, and we will have discussions afterwards.”

“I’ve worked with kids before, including those from multicultural backgrounds, and I remember the stories they told me. The scene when the boys are stopped by the police? I met a lot of kids who experience this. The police basically tell them they’re ‘bad people’.”

“Sometimes we say that words are harmless. They aren’t harmless.”