Deliver Me is a Swedish series on Netflix about 14-year-old best friends Bilal “Billy” Ali (Yasir Hassan) and Douglas “Dogge” Arnfeldt, (Olle Strand) who run errands for local low-life Mehdi Bah (Solomon Njie). When the series opens, Bilal has been shot on a playground, and when we cut to Dogge, he isn’t trying to save Billy, but rather is holding the smoking gun. The rest of the series reconstructs how Dogge got to the point of shooting his best friend, and it’s heartbreaking. Deliver Me is not an easy watch, but between the performances, the writing and directing, it’s worth the pit in your stomach.
Deliver Me is based on the novel of the same name by Malin Persson Giolito (affiliate link)
Billy and Dogge
Billy is a decent kid from a loving but broken Nigerian immigrant family in a rough neighborhood. He is being raised by his single mom, Leila (Yursa Warsama), who works nights, leaving her four children alone. His brother, Tusse (Mohamed Adirahman Koje), is a sharp kid, and a busybody, secretly tailing Billy as he goes about the business of working for Mehdi. When Billy is caught by cops for torching a car and threatened with being sent into foster care, he decides to leave Mehdi’s gang with Leila’s help. It’s a decision that Dogge doesn’t understand. Dogge is from a wealthy neighborhood, but is neglected by his parents. It’s never explained how he and Billy became friends, but they are tight. The character of Dogge is frankly hard to like. He’s dull-witted, impressionable and startlingly naïve, and he makes bad choices. But Dogge’s distastefulness is punctuated by piercing moments of vulnerability that absolve some of his lesser qualities.
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Farid
Farid (Ardalan Esmaili) is a well-meaning, dedicated cop who works with gangs and kids, getting them into programs and helping them adhere to their court assigned requirements, such as getting sober. When Billy is shot, he inserts himself into the case, telling the lead detective that he’s known the kids since they were 7. Farid is frustrated at the homicide cops’ lack of knowledge of the juvenile system, but the cops feel that Farid is not helpful as he runs around trying to mitigate damage and get Leila to testify against Mehdi. (She won’t, she says.) In a gutting scene that will remind some of Making a Murderer, Farid has to explain to Dogge that he can’t go home, likely never again, because he clearly shot and killed his friend. Dogge doesn’t understand, and furthermore, he is surprised and devastated that Billy has died. Farid, who was working with Billy to get away from Mehdi, feels he failed Billy.
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Our Take on Deliver Me
Deliver Me is hard to watch, but it’s compelling, and it goes in unexpected directions. It stuck with me for days. It’s worth noting that both Billy and Dogge are played by first-time actors after the creators auditioned over 1,000 kids for the roles. They and the other lead characters give excellent, heart-felt performances. The series (and book) ask the question, “Who is responsible when kids fall through the cracks and commit horrible crimes?” I see how the series tries to address that, but that theme is not what sticks with you. It’s the tender friendship between two kids who are too young to handle the situation they find themselves in, and the devastating outcome of that emotional immaturity. If you are willing to sit with a bleak story in order to view an exceptionally made, thought-provoking series, Deliver Me is for you.
On a fun note, the music in the series has gotten a lot of buzz. But many of the tracks are unreleased music written for the series by the director’s brother! (as of now, anyway)
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