The two meet and decide to frame Tanja's boyfriend Eilert for her murder, with Engström later planting Holt's gun under Eilert's bed. He correctly deduces that Holt killed Tanja, but Holt blackmails Engström with his knowledge of the Vik shooting. Things become even worse when he learns that Tanja's murderer saw him shoot Vik.Įngström learns from one of Tanja's friends that she had been seeing Jon Holt ( Bjørn Floberg), a crime novelist. Haunted by guilt and unable to sleep with the midnight sun of the Arctic, Engström becomes increasingly unhinged and starts hallucinating about Vik. When one of his colleagues, Hilde Hagen ( Gisken Armand), is assigned to investigate Vik's death, Engström becomes worried about ballistic fingerprinting and tampers with evidence to support his story. While shooting at what he believes to be the suspect, Engstrom accidentally kills Vik, who had mistakenly run right instead of left as ordered.Įngström initially tells the truth about the shooting, but realises that everyone assumes that the fugitive shot Vik. Without telling his colleagues, however, Engström carries a gun from his days in the Swedish police, who routinely carry firearms. Events take a turn for the worse when the fugitive shoots one of the pursuing unarmed Norwegian police officers. Vik is nearing retirement age, and his memory is failing.Įngström 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. Engström 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. When 17-year-old Tanja is found murdered in the city of Tromsø, far up in the Norwegian Arctic, Kripos police officers Jonas Engström ( Stellan Skarsgård) and Erik Vik ( Sverre Anker Ousdal) are called in to investigate. The film inspired the 2002 American remake Insomnia. The screenplay was written by Nikolaj Frobenius and Skjoldbjærg, and the soundtrack by Geir Jenssen. Insomnia was the film debut of director Erik Skjoldbjærg. 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). The investigation goes horribly wrong when he mistakenly shoots his partner and subsequently attempts to cover it up. Honestly though, it would be hard to judge one as objectively better than the other because I think they're different enough stylistically that both stand by themselves as great films.Insomnia is a 1997 Norwegian thriller film about a police detective investigating a murder in a town located above the Arctic Circle. Personally, I prefer the original, although I still like Nolan's re-make quite a bit. The detective is a pretty bad guy who uses his cunning to subvert the rules, and things don't end as nicely and succinctly as they do in the re-make. Skarsgard's detective has much more in common with the killer despite their opposition to each other. That said, it is darker and more sinister. In the original, there's not nearly as much dramatic tension, which depending on your taste or mood may or may not be a good thing. You're rooting for him and hope for redemption in the end. Character-wise, Pacino's detective, despite his flaws, is likable and is ultimately a good guy that the audience can get behind. There's the feeling of a cat-and-mouse game, which makes for good suspense. Nolan's film is more "Hollywood," with higher stakes and a climax that is probably way more satisfying to wider audiences. The main story beats are the same, but they are executed completely differently. Latest Discussions The Super Mario Bros Movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves John Wick: Chapter 4 Renfield Keanu Reeves Tobey Maguire
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