The wrong bird sound is used in a Swedish film

Are you one of the Swedes who were bothered by the cuckoo going crazy in October in Ronja Rövardotter?
If so, you are not alone. Torbjörn Fagerström, professor of ecology at Lund University gives a thumbs up to Swedish film, which he believes is a study in biological ignorance.
– The wrong bird song destroys the entirety of the film experience, says Fagerström.

It is clear that knowledgeable people have put a lot of work into getting the props, costumes and environments as correct and medieval as possible in films like Ronja Rövardotter, but miss an important detail, if you put in for the time of year the film takes place an incorrect bird song.

– It wouldn’t have been that difficult to pick up a person who knows the sounds of birds, says Torbjörn Fagerström and adds that there are many experts in the country they can call.

The experience is ruined

Furthermore, Torbjörn points out that even though films like Ronja Rövardotter are fiction and contain elements such as wild winters, the experience is negatively affected when, for example, a cuckoo goes crazy in October, which it does in Ronja Rövardotter.

– It’s still the case that if the cuckoo goes crazy in October, I giggle and get my experiences a little spoiled.

When asked if this is a common problem, Torbjörn answers;

– It is rather standard that it is wrong, he says. A memorable example for him is from the film adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf’s Jerusalem. In a scene where people were working in the fields picking up potatoes, warblers sang in the background. The problem? Warblers sing in the spring until midsummer, but by the time the potatoes are harvested, the warblers are already in Africa.

Lesson for the Swedish film industry

It is clear that many, especially those with knowledge of nature, are affected by these details. So anyone who works in film can take this as a lesson and make sure the bird calls match the right time of year next time.

– There are quite a few of us in this country who know a lot about nature. We have part of our experience ruined when we are looking at something sad or serious, and then suddenly a bird sings that is totally out of place. It makes you lose the whole and the mood, says Torbjörn, who wrote a critical text in DN Debate that Ronja Rövardotter is a study in biological ignorance.