I do not believe that there's a better young film-maker in Europe at the moment than Sweden's Lukas Moodysson. One of his greatest strengths is his incredibly evocative use of music. He is completely unafraid of matching the stories of his young characters with their natural soundtrack - pop music. His debut, Fucking Amal, was renamed after a Robyn song, Show Me Love, to get past the British censors and featured some utterly ridiculous hi-NRG europop. Ivan Shapovalov and Elena Kiper, the force behind the creation of Tatu, have credited the film as an enormous influence. The follow-up Tillsammans made numerous references to ABBA and even his abrasive recent effort A Hole In My Heart had room for an exhilarating sequence set to an A-Teens track.

Moodysson's crowning glory, however, is his devastating account of a Russian-Estonian girl forced into prostitution in Sweden. Many, myself included, regard Lilya 4-Ever as the finest film of our generation, few could deny that it is one of the most important. Pop music, again, was brilliantly utilised. The first sweep over the crumbling Soviet housing estates of the Tallinn ghetto was soundtracked by Bomba by V.I.A Gra and the opening notes still send a chill down my spine every time i hear them.

V.I.A Gra are an ever-changing line-up of buxom Ukrainian girls trying not to get on the wrong side of producer Konstantin Meladze. Long-term members Nadya and Vera are there largely for decoration so the sound of the group varies according to who has the seemingly temporary position of lead singer. Original star Alyona Vinnitskaya made it through their only full-length album, the comparatively dark Popitka No.5, as well as about half of the Stop! Snyato! mini album, before being sacked / leaving to have children. Anna Sedakova, one of the great lost pop stars of our generation, completed two mini-albums before being sacked / leaving to have children and her replacement, a girl called Svetlana, was given the heave-ho before singing a note. They have returned fronted by a girl called Al’bina Dzhanabaeva. Don’t get too attached to her. To confuse matters even more, they also exist, as part of a two-terrible-names-for-the-price-of-one package as an English-language group called Nu Virgos. Along with Alcazar and Bodies Without Organs, they’re probably the best pure-pop / disco group in the world.



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End Child Exploitation