Director: Hans Petter Moland
Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Kristofer Hivju, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Pål Sverre Hagen, Bruno Ganz, Anders Baasmo, Tobias Santelmann, Jakob Oftebro, Hildegard Riise
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 116 minutes
Snowploughing Citizen of the Year Nils Dickmann (Stellan Skarsgård) is proof that ‘Norwegian kids shouldn’t disappear because of obnoxious parents looking for them’ in Hans Petter Moland’s latest film, IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE.
Set amidst Norway’s mountainous winterscape, Moland and Skarsgård’s fourth collaboration is a noirish ‘PULP FICTION went to FARGO’ comedy that sadly fails to measure up to the wit, violent humour, and humorous violence of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers.
Don’t get me wrong – I actually enjoyed this film…a lot, and was disappointed when I missed its screening at the Sydney Film Festival back in June, 2014. Kim Fupz Aakeson’s screenplay contains numerous moments of brilliance like Nils’ showdown with Striker (Kristofer Hivju), the Police’s tête-a- tête on Scandinavia’s partiality to welfare when compared to warmer nations (‘There’s no warm country with welfare’ one officer says to the other), and the Serbian criminals discussion on the benefits of Norwegian incarceration. Additionally, Philip Ogaard’s moving images are un-complicatedly shot, allowing the incredible beauty and grandeur of the landscape to set the film’s tone. The opening image is just commanding.
IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE tells the story of stoic Swedish snow plougher and Citizen of the Year Nils Dickmann (Skarsgård) who finds himself embroiled in the middle of a drug war, after his son Ingvar is mistakenly murdered with an ‘apparent’ overdose by a couple of lowmen gangsters.
Despite being unconvinced his son was just another young junkie destroying himself, Nils’ initial reaction is to put a gun in his mouth. His suicidal moment is interrupted when Ingvar’s friend (and the actual culprit) Finn appears and confirms that it was he who was involved with the local drug boss known as ‘The Count’ (Pal Sverre Hagen) and that Ingvar was just an innocent bystander.
With his suspicions confirmed, Nils sets off with a sawn-off shotgun (and the occasional snowplough) to find his son’s murderers and seek vengeance. With apparent ease for a novice and thanks to Jeppe’s (one of Ingvar’s murderers) smartphone contact list, the body count slowly rises towards Greven a.k.a ‘The Count’: a petulant, eurotrash dandy who likes to bemoan how difficult it is to be him and to complain about immoral business ethics. ‘The Chinese, the Jews of Asia’ he cries, disgusted at Danish/Japanese hitman, ‘Chinaman’s’ offer to not ice him in exchange for additional payment.
Concerned that his authority is being undermined by the Serbian ‘Albanians’ led by Papa (played by Bruno Ganz), Greven ignorantly starts a crime war that sees the body count increase exponentially as shown by the increased frequency of title card epitaphs detailing the deceased’s name, their criminal alias and religious symbol (different crosses for Christian and Serbian Orthodox, a Star of David for the Judaist, and a non-descript sign for the token atheist).
As the violence and suspense increases from snowplough to skidoo speed and the parties come together for their inevitable showdown, be prepared for Moland and Aakeson to leave you with very few characters alive in an already small Norwegian village.
This is a decidedly blokey film, full of masculine bravado, man-codes, and strength found in familial bonds. Comparatively, the female characters have very little depth reminiscent of John Wayne western conventions. Even the intimate relationship between Greven’s wingmen, Aron and Geir, is more emotionally compelling than Nils’ relationship with Gudrun (Hildegard Riise) and Greven’s own acrimonious relationship with ex-wife Marit (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen).
Overall, Moland’s black comedy is a great film and will certainly show you that a bloody good time can often be had in the Norwegian boondocks.
[usr=3] IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE is available on DVD from 2nd February.
