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Insomnia (1997 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Insomnia' is a 1997 Norwegian thriller film about a police detective investigating a murder in a town located above the Arctic Circle. The investigation goes horribly wrong when he mistakenly shoots his partner and subsequently attempts to cover up his bungle. The title of the film refers to his inability to sleep, the result of his guilt (represented by the relentless glare of the midnight sun). 'Insomnia' was the film debut of director Erik Skjoldbjrg. The screenplay was written by Nikolaj Frobenius and Skjoldbjrg, and the soundtrack by Geir Jenssen.
The film inspired the 2002 American remake 'Insomnia'.
Plot
When 17-year-old Tanja is found murdered in the city of Troms, far up in the Norwegian Arctic, Kripos police officers Jonas Engstrm (Stellan Skarsgrd) and Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal) are called in to investigate. Engstrm is a police inspector formerly with the Swedish police who moved to Norway after being caught having sex with the main witness in one of his cases. Vik is nearing retirement age, and his memory is failing.
Engstrm devises a plan to lure the murderer back to the scene of the crime, but the stakeout is blown and the murder suspect flees into the fog. Events take a turn for the worse when the fugitive shoots one of the pursuing unarmed Norwegian police officers. Without telling his colleagues, however, Engstrm carries a gun from his days in the Swedish police, who routinely carry firearms. While shooting at what he believes to be the suspect, Engstrom accidentally kills Vik, who had mistakenly run right instead of left as ordered.
Engstrm initially tells the truth about the shooting, but realises that everyone assumes that the fugitive shot Vik. He decides to conceal his culpability. When one of his colleagues, Hilde Hagen (Gisken Armand), is assigned to investigate Vik's death, Engstrm becomes worried about ballistic fingerprinting and tampers with evidence to support his story. Haunted by guilt and unable to sleep with the midnight sun of the Arctic, Engstrm becomes increasingly unhinged and starts hallucinating about Vik. Things become even worse when he learns that Tanja's murderer saw him shoot Vik.
Engstrm learns from one of Tanja's friends that she had been seeing Jon Holt (Bjrn Floberg), a crime novelist. He correctly deduces that Holt killed Tanja, but Holt blackmails Engstrm with his knowledge of the Vik shooting. The two meet and decide to frame Tanja's boyfriend Eilert for her murder, with Engstrm later planting Holt's gun under Eilert's bed. However, Hagen is not convinced of Eilert's involvement, and when new evidence emerges, Engstrm knows that it's only a matter of time until Holt is arrested.
Engstrm tracks down Holt in some rotting wooden buildings at the waterfront and tries to talk with him. Holt suspects that Engstrm has come to kill him and holds him at gunpoint. He explains how he killed Tanja in a fit of rage when she rejected his advances. Holt tries to flee across a pier, but the rotten floorboards give way and he falls into the water below, striking his head on the way. He drowns as Engstrm watches. When he rummages through Holt's nearby house, Engstrm finds Tanja's dress, which Holt had removed before dumping the body. With Holt dead, and this definitive proof that he was the murderer, the case is closed.
Just before he leaves town, Engstrm is visited by Hagen, who shows him a cartridge case found at the site where Vik was shot. She notes that it is a Norma case, which Engstrm confirms is a brand used by the Swedish police. Engstrm expects Hagen to arrest him, but instead she simply places the cartridge case on a table and leaves. Engstrm drives out of town, his face and eyes showing great weariness; he seems not to have recovered from his insomnia.
Cast
*Stellan Skarsgrd as Jonas Engstrm
*Sverre Anker Ousdal as Erik Vik
*Bjrn Floberg as Jon Holt
*Gisken Armand as Hilde Hagen
*Maria Bonnevie as Ane
*Bjrn Moan as Eilert
*Maria Mathiesen as Tanja Lorentzen
*Marianne O. Ulrichsen as Frya
*Kristian Figenschow as Arne Zakariassen
*Thor Michael Aamodt as Tom Engen
*Frode Rasmussen as Chief of Police
Critical reception
The film has been widely praised as a psychological study and "semi-noir".[http://www.epinions.com/review/mvie_mu-1085210/content_149234486916?sb=1 In the Land of the Midnight Sun], epinions Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' compared it to the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel 'Crime and Punishment'.[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980710/REVIEWS/807100302 Insomnia (1998)] by Roger Ebert, 1998 For the 'New York Times', Janet Maslin praised the principal performance by Skarsgrd and added that "Mr. Skjoldbjrg's understated, elliptical direction keeps the material dangerous and volatile, with frequent small touches of the unexpected as Engstrom shows increasing signs of strain."[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0DE2DF1038F93AA15756C0A96E958260 Insomnia (1997) FILM REVIEW; A Private Nightmare In Days Without End], Janet Maslin, 1998
Remake
A remake of the film was directed by Christopher Nolan. The film, featuring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank, was released in 2002.
References
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