Caliphate, also known as Kalifat, is a Swedish TV series that became the most streamed series on the website of the national Swedish television after it was released (on SVTPlay). I hadn't heard a word about it before I accidentally noticed it on Netflix. I decided to give it a try, even though I didn't know anything about it, and I haven't regretted it at all!
What is Caliphate about?
The series is available in English on Netflix, but with subtitles in all other sorts of languages. That is useful, because you get the local feeling while being able to follow the conversations due to the subtitles.
The story of the Caliphate is based on real events in the UK, in which a person managed to turn three school girls into Muslim converts who wanted to move to Syria and to live in the Islamic state. Of course, this is mostly inspiration, because the real-time events and the TV series are quite different, but still - there are also quite some similarities between the two.
In other words, this TV series tells the story of some school girls who are drawn towards radical Islam. They meet a person who is feeding them with all sorts of videos and information causing them to get even more fed up with the terrible system of Sweden in which Muslims are oppressed. Their desire to live as "real" Muslims grows stronger every minute.
We also follow a police officer who is getting connected to a Swedish wife in Rakka (Syria). She was earlier living in Sweden, but they decided to live more radically, and thus she moved to the Islamic State with her husband. Life isn't good for them there, and while her husband is planning and working on a terror attack, the wife is trying to save herself and the kid through her connection with the police officer in Sweden.
Is this a typical all Muslims are bad series?
It might sound like it, but it truly isn't. It is rather showing that there are extremists who are terrible and totally wrong in what they are doing, but the average Muslim believer is someone who loves peace and who might even cooperate with the police in order to stop the extremists.
Is it interesting? Is it worth watching?
I had a fantastic time watching Caliphate on Netflix. I was really curious to see how the events would progress, and some of them actually surprised me quite a lot in the end. It doesn't mean that I liked all of it, and I really feel hatred as I see people turning normal youth into extremists like this, but still - I would absolutely say that this is a series worth watching.
There has been some discussion about whether to not a second season should be produced. But, the director said that after such a fantastic first season he doesn't want to destroy it by creating a bad second season. In other words, he is still thinking about it, and he doesn't want to move forward unless he/they can come up with something that would be really good.
My Caliphate score: 8/10
Have you seen this? Did this little review make you curious? I would love to hear your thoughts about it!
You can watch Caliphate on Netflix almost anywhere, with the exception of in Sweden. But, if you live in Sweden, you can stream the TV series on SVTPlay instead.