Insomnia May 8, 2006
Posted by clydefro in : Modern Films, 1990s , trackback
The 1997 Norwegian film Insomnia
The plot is best not known before seeing the film. It involves a detective disgraced from his job in Sweden who now works in Norway. He is sent, along with his partner, to a town in northern Norway after a teenage girl has been murdered. The town is located near the Arctic Circle, amidst the “land of the midnight sun.” The lack of darkness plays a key role in the film, most notably in Skarsgard’s inability to sleep due to the constant light. When the girl’s backpack is found, the police engineer a trap for the killer, but Skarsgard accidentally shoots his partner. He then must try to solve the girl’s murder without implicating himself in his parner’s shooting.
Like lots of people, I saw the 2002 Hollywood version of Insomnia directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams in the theater. I’d never heard of the 1997 original at the time and enjoyed the remake, but there was nothing beneath the surface calling me back for a second viewing. Since then I’ve watched the original Insomnia twice and even enjoyed it more the second time. The characters in the 1997 film are much more interesting, especially the protoganist detective. Whereas Pacino makes the character someone we’ve all seen before, Skarsgard injects a certain amount of flawed, even repulsive, instability into his performance that prevents the audience from trusting or feeling at ease with him, yet it adds an enormous depth to the film as you watch him disintegrate before your own eyes. The many seemingly small differences between the original and the remake (such as the dog being shot and killed by Skarsgard, but conveniently already dead for Pacino) are exactly what make the Norwegian film such a breath of fresh air.
There are so many little touches in Insomnia that help transform the film from a simple psychological police thriller into a small masterpiece. When Skarsgard runs the red light near the beginning, the astute viewer immediately knows that something is amiss. It’s unclear whether he’s doing this because he can or if he really didn’t realize the light was red. At the end of the film, as he is leaving the town having faced no punishment for all his misdeeds aside from his own guilt, we see that this time he stops at the red light. Perhaps everything that has happened to him has been somewhat cathartic and he can now awaken from the fog that’s been plaguing him throughout the film.
The only DVD available in R1 is from the Criterion Collection and it happened to be their first release anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions. The picture quality is still quite strong, despite some dirt and specks throughout the film. Unfortunately there are no special features as an interview with the director would have been a nice addition. The film, however, is more than enough to make it a worthy addition to someone’s collection.
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