The Suitcase of Cinema —Norway
by Javier Solórzano Casarin
“Insomnia” (1997)
Erik Skjoldbjaerg
This long night is made of the sharp white light of day. The guilty conscience cannot surrender to sleep. In the northern region of Norway, there are entire seasons where night never falls, where it never gets dark. The sun veiled by cold and fog cuts through the windows, the contours of the doors, and the eyes of our protagonist.
The atmosphere of director Erik Skjoldbjaerg’s debut feature, is the catalyst, the cause and effect, and even more importantly an essential character in the development of the story.
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle. The sun is visible for a full 24 hours. In countries such as Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Russia and the United States this climatic phenomenon takes place. In Svalbard, Norway there is no sunset, no sunrise for almost five months.
It is in this region that Swedish detective Jonas Engstrom (Stellan Skarsgard) arrives to investigate the cold-blooded murder of a young woman. It is a small town and everyone is aware of the crime. The news turns to gossip when the detective in charge of the case is a well-known Stockholm police officer who has just been involved in a scandal, which almost cost him his job. Carrying the insecurity of his own moral sense and the uncertainty of his career, Engstrom work on the case as if it were any other.
When he pursues the murder suspect in a superb and extraordinary scene — through thick blinding fog — a terrible event locks him in with his worst demons. The light that does not sleep snatches his sleep. Distinguishing between reality and fantasy grows increasingly difficult.
“Insomnia” is not only a great psychological thriller but also a brilliant study of human morality; of the sense of right and wrong. It presents us with a figure who continually battles with the complexity of the human being.
The restrained and incisive direction ensures an undeniable quality in the script, in the characters and in the technical craftmanship. The balance of all these elements allows for the raw material of the film to possess an emotional and psychological urgency that confronts us, viscerally.
The veteran brilliant actor Stellan Skarsgard (“Good Will Hunting”, “Girl with the Dragon Tatto”, “Dogville” and “Breaking the Waves”) is of course the soul of the film. His unflappable, calculating expression not only forms an existential conundrum, but also keeps us on the edge of our expectations and preconceptions of the nature of his humanity. He carries on with a long and fascinating tradition of cinematic characters such as: Peter Lorre in “M”, Jean-Louis Trintignant in “The Conformist”, Jack Nicholson in “The Passenger”, Al Pacino in “Cruising” and Robert De Niro in “Taxi Driver”. Characters that defy a traditional dramatic reading, remaining within the indecipherable abstraction of being.
The midnight sun in “Insomnia” is a reminder that restless, disturbed consciousness has a far greater hold on us that we can imagine. Erling Thurmann-Andersen’s cinematography and the production design build this Scandinavian world in its rigid, symmetrical spaces, where there seem to be gaps and pervasive silences that attest to the chilling duality of the individual.
The suspense of “Insomnia” torments us when it declares that even though some people may not care too much about the consequences of their actions, the sinister power of our darkness is capable of taking over anyone’s mind.
