Ahmed Abdullahi & Mona Masri on Bringing A Life’s Worth to the Screen

In the early 1990s, war ravaged Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the break-up of Yugoslavia. Throughout the conflict, Swedish battalions came in to help save civilian lives from ethnic cleansing and genocide. Swedish author Magnus Ernström recounted his time as a UN soldier during the war in his memoir A Life’s Worth (Ett halvt år, ett helt liv).

Viaplay has brought the true story to the screen as a six-part drama, directed by Ahmed Abdullahi (Top Dog) and written by Mona Masri (Snabba Cash, Copenhagen Cowboy). With Edvin Ryding (Young Royals) and Johan Rheborg (The Glass Dome) among its cast, the screen adaptation follows four Swedish rookie soldiers into the heart of the battle on a mission to secure the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians while staying neutral.

Though the focal point of the series is the conflict, it’s “about more than just depicting war,” Masri tells TV Drama. “It’s about the Swedish experience and the moral dilemmas of young soldiers sent to maintain peace in a conflict that rapidly spiraled beyond their control. They were trained as peacekeepers but suddenly found themselves in the midst of brutality, where ideals and reality clashed. Our goal was to explore what it truly means to be a soldier in such a situation. How do you uphold peace when the world around you is falling apart?”

She continues, “Instead of focusing on the conflict itself, we focus on those navigating it, the impossible choices they faced and the emotional and ethical struggles they endured.”

And the show doesn’t just portray the dark side of their experiences. “Even though it’s a story about a war, there’s warmth in it,” Abdullahi says. “There’s love in it. There’s humor in it. Because all of those things are side by side with whatever horrible things are happening.”

There is a Swedish saying, he adds, that underscores this concept: “The beauty and the sadness co-exist.”

To ensure the authenticity of the series’ portrayal of the soldiers’ experiences, Abdullahi and Masri did plenty of research, beyond reading Ernström’s book and viewing his personal photos. “My background is in journalism, so I spent a lot of time researching,” Masri says. “I wanted to understand the area, the culture, the background to the conflict and the Swedish decision to participate in this humanitarian effort. I read fiction and nonfiction, including court documents in the trials for crimes against humanity that followed, and watched documentaries.”

Abdullahi, who comes from a war-torn country and did Swedish military service, was able to lend his own personal insights to “elevate the story to greater heights,” he says.

Though the Bosnian War took place over 30 years ago, the series and its themes are still relevant to today’s audiences. “Some of the conflicts in Europe today were also some of the conflicts in the Balkans in the ’90s, like the question of who is European or where we draw the lines between ‘us’ and ‘them,’” Masri says.

The development of the series was timely—it began around the same time that the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict started, “and people were talking about that as the first war in Europe since the Second World War,” Abdullahi says. The Bosnian War was “almost like a forgotten conflict.”

A Life’s Worth allows for remembrance of that war and the people involved, and also serves as “an opportunity to learn for future generations,” he says. “Even though we say ‘no’ to ethnic cleansing or to genocide, it still continues happening around the world.”

Ultimately, though, Masri says, “I think audiences are keen on watching good shows that take them on an emotional ride. I hope that A Life’s Worth, which is a war drama but also an intimate, character-driven story, will do just that.”

The series will debut in the U.S. on Viaplay on October 30, with weekly episodes through November 27. Viaplay Content Distribution is representing the series worldwide.