Facts: Kamprad’s million
Genre: Documentary
Producer: Sanne Olsson
Premiere: 25 July 2022 on SVT
Number of episodes: 2
Rating: + + +
— You must be incredibly rich?
— I guess I can manage.
Ingvar Kamprad answered modestly about his fortune in an old interview that was unearthed for SVT’s two-part documentary series “Kamprad’s millions”.
In the opening chapter, the Ikea founder is referred to as a “prodigy” and “the greatest entrepreneur in Sweden’s history”. His less flattering Nazi connections are barely mentioned, but it is difficult to judge whether this is relevant, as the documentary focuses on his financial aftermath.
Those close to him say he “planned his death for 40 years”. Yet the details of his wishes are difficult to decipher from a single brief sentence in his will.
670 million Kamprad left behind and he wanted the money to go to Norrland’s business sector. How should the money be distributed, and whose interpretation of Kamprad’s will takes precedence? It may sound like dry questions, but “Kamprad’s millions” raises its eyes to show the importance of money in a Sweden that is still divided after the colonization of Norrland. The main conflict is between the foundation that Kamprad left behind, and hopeful entrepreneurs who want a chance to make their ideas a reality in a dying countryside.
Kamprad’s foundation has certain sectarian features, where the demise of the great leader has created a personality cult around him after his death, but perhaps with selective memories.
The documentary has a leisurely movement, sometimes verging on turtle pace, but the conflict surrounding Kamprad’s fortune reflects what money could do in forgotten landscapes. Parallel to the international success story of Ikea, the image is reinforced of how many good ideas are wasted on murky grounds.
It is a solid portrait of Sweden against a background of Norrland’s colonial history, and also of Ingvar Kamprad’s often enigmatic enterprise.
Ingvar Kamprad’s foundation wants his inheritance to be used for “education and research”, but a close friend of the Ikea founder believes on the contrary that Kamprad wanted to see Norrland’s company benefit from the money. SVT’s documentary “Kamprad’s Millions” is about this. Press photo.