Insomnia [Norwegian Version] (5 Stars)

Few crime thrillers have achieved the reputation enjoyed by "Insomnia", the 1997 Norwegian film directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg. Long before the Hollywood remake starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, the original established itself as one of the defining Scandinavian thrillers of the modern era. Nearly three decades later, it remains a benchmark for Nordic crime cinema and a deserved cult classic.

The film follows Swedish homicide detective Jonas Engström, played by Stellan Skarsgard, who travels to Tromso in northern Norway to investigate the murder of a young woman. The endless daylight of the Arctic summer soon becomes an enemy in itself. Unable to sleep, increasingly paranoid and burdened by guilt after a tragic shooting incident, Engström finds himself trapped in a psychological battle with the killer he is pursuing.

What makes "Insomnia" so extraordinary is its atmosphere. Unlike many thrillers that rely on darkness and shadows, the film creates tension through relentless sunlight. The bright Norwegian landscapes become oppressive, almost surreal. The perpetual daylight reflects Engström's deteriorating mental state, turning the investigation into a study of guilt, exhaustion and moral compromise. Skarsgard delivers one of the finest performances of his career, portraying a man whose confidence slowly collapses under pressure.

The film's cult status comes from its unusual approach to the crime genre. Rather than focusing on the mystery of "who did it", the audience learns the killer's identity relatively early. The suspense instead comes from watching the psychological relationship that develops between hunter and hunted. This emphasis on character, morality and atmosphere helped pave the way for later Scandinavian crime dramas and the wider Nordic noir movement. Many of the themes that would later become associated with Nordic crime fiction are already present here: flawed investigators, bleak moral ambiguity and a landscape that becomes an active participant in the story.

The influence of "Insomnia" can still be felt today. Its combination of psychological depth, visual originality and moral complexity remains remarkably fresh. While many Scandinavian thrillers have followed in its footsteps, few have matched its hypnotic power. As both a gripping crime story and a haunting character study, "Insomnia" stands among the greatest Scandinavian crime thrillers ever made and remains essential viewing for anyone interested in the evolution of Nordic noir.

The Ugly Stepsister (4 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It tells the story of Cinderella from the point of view of her step-sister Elvira. There's a second step-sister, but she's a young teenager who hasn't reached marrying age. Elvira is 18, and she's fascinated by Prince Julian. She'll do anything to become his bride. But she's too ugly to attract his attention. Supposedly.

My biggest problem with the film is that I don't find Elvira ugly. They say her nose is too big, but I see nothing at all wrong with her. They say she's too fat, but I find her just right for a romantic cuddle. If I were the prince I would have picked Elvira. But he prefers the girl with small feet. Silly man. And Elvira is stupid enough to cut off her toes so that the slipper will fit. No woman should ever go that far to please a man. If he doesn't like her big feet, she can tell him to get lost.

Disney is incapable of making like action remakes of fairy tales. In Norway they still know how. It's just a shame that the cinema ticket will cost double the price because of Donald Trump's 100% tariff on foreign films.

Handling the Undead (3 Stars)

This is the 23rd film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Sometimes a film is too Norwegian for its own good. As you know, Scandinavian horror films are different to horror films made in other countries. They don't rely on terrifying scenes or jump scares, they have a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. "Handling the Undead" takes this to the limit.

There's a family that lives in a remote community. Only a few houses. The grandmother becomes a zombie. Her grandson becomes a zombie. One of her daughters becomes a zombie.

That might sound like a typical zombie film, but don't forget that it was made in Norway. The zombies lie in bed all day waiting for someone to bring them food. Sometimes they're taken for walks, hand in hand. The family is worried that they might be suffering, so they consider killing them. Again.

I found the film okay. Nothing special, but okay in the context of the Scandinavian horror genre. The others that I talked to all hated it.

Just Super (4½ Stars)

It's Sunday. Like most Sundays I went to the cinema with my grandson Oliver. Today we went to see the animated Norwegian film, "Just Super".

The problem with Sundays is that public transport doesn't run as often as other days. The local train (the Strohgäubahn) only runs once an hour, not the usual twice an hour. According to Google Maps, we'd arrive at the cinema at 1:28 pm, two minutes before the film started. That was okay, I thought. We already had tickets. It was better than having to wait more than an hour.

Then catastrophe struck. The connecting train in Zuffenhausen was ten minutes late. Okay... so we had to rush from the station to the cinema. The adverts before the film usually last 15 minutes, but they're sometimes a bit shorter before children's films. So it was a risk. To make it worse, Oliver insisted on buying a packet of M&Ms when we went in. So we rushed into the cinema hall, entering just as the adverts ended. The room was dark, so I didn't find our row  immediately. And what did I see? A woman and her daughter were sitting on our seats. She made a motion to stand up. She'd probably only moved into our good seats when she thought nobody was coming. I signalled to her to stay where she was. I was happy with the not so good seats at the end of the row.

So we sat at the end of the row, and I realise that I've probably written more about the cinema attendance drama than I'll write about the film itself. Let's see.

The film is about Hedvig, a normal 11-year-old girl who lives in a small Norwegian town. It isn't named, but based on the mountainous scenery it could be somewhere near Bergen. Hedvig might be normal, but her family is far from normal. Her father is a superhero called Super Lion. Before him his mother was also a superhero. The superpowers have been handed down from generation to generation in the form of a suit. The suit amplifies the natural abilities of whoever wears it. Hedvig will inherit the suit one day when her father retires, but that's a long way off. Or is it?

Hedvig accidentally washes the costume at 90 degrees, and it shrinks. Her father can't wear it any more, so he gives it to Hedvig. The trouble is that it doesn't give a person abilities he doesn't already have. Hedvig isn't athletic or intelligent. The only thing she's good at is computer games, and wow! If she wears the suit at her computer to play a game she's unbeatable.

Hedvig's father decides to give the suit to his nephew Adrian, who's an outstanding sportsman. He has all the qualifications needed to become a superhero, except one. He has no modesty. He's arrogant, and the costume amplifies his arrogance. Hedvig sees the danger, so she visits her grandmother in the old people's home and begs her for help.

This is a wonderful film. Oliver loved it, and so did I. Why can't Marvel make superhero films like this?

The Trip (4½ Stars)

Amazon Friday #28

Sometimes I'm glad I live in Germany. It makes things easier for me as a film fan. The English film market, both for cinemas and home video, is geared towards films from England and America. The German film market also draws films from all over Europe, films that aren't available in England. "The Trip" is a good example. It's a Norwegian film starring Noomi Rapace. Her co-star Aksel Hennie is supposedly a very successful actor in Norway, but I've never heard of him until now. The first impression I have of him is positive.

Lars is a director of television soaps. His wife Lisa is an actress. They have no respect for one another's careers. Lars says that Lisa is a poor actress, while Lisa says that making television soaps is a job that requires no talent. She may be right. What director would voluntarily make daily soaps if he had enough talent to do something else?

Lars has discovered that his wife has had an affair with another actor, so he wants to kill her. He suggests a weekend in their seaside cabin, planning to batter her to death and dispose of her body. What he doesn't know is that she also wants to kill him. She's fed up of his gambling debts eating up their savings.

The calm before the storm. The married couple enjoy a steak with a bottle of wine. They talk politely, planning to kill one another after nightfall.

The trouble is that they're not alone in their cabin. Three escaped convicts are using it as a hideaway. Despite hating one another, Lars and Lisa have to unite against the home intruders. The film develops into one of the most violent movies I've ever seen. It's not a horror film, but it has more blood than the goriest horror films.

I've only deducted a half star because there's an (attempted) rape scene which lasts too long for my tastes. I found it unsettling. Maybe I'll like the film more the next time I watch it, now that I've got over my initial shock. With the exception of this one scene it's a first class film.

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Addendum on Saturday, 2nd July 2022

I've just been told that this film is available on Netflix in Britain and America. That's great news. It means that you don't have to miss out on it after all.

Cold Prey (3 Stars)

Back in 2017 I found this film in the bargain bin at Saturn, a big media shop opposite my cinema. I watched it once and didn't think I'd watch it again, but today my son Benjamin asked if he could watch it, so I sat with him. It was given away free with a Sony Playstation 4 as an example of a Blu-ray disc.

The advertising material calls this the best slasher movie ever made. Claims like that are common, and they're never true. If a film really is the best slasher movie ever made, or even in the top 10, it will speak for itself.

One thing I noticed today is that the film isn't very Norwegian. What I mean is, Scandinavian horror films usually have a very slow pace, relying on atmosphere rather than jump scares. That isn't the case with "Cold Prey". It's more like American horror films; or rather, it's more like low-budget American films.

The film has inspired two other films in the series, a sequel and a prequel, so it must have been successful. My son loved it, and he says I should give it five stars. I told him he should write his own blog. In my opinion, three stars is all it deserves.

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Code Name Nagasaki (4 Stars)

This is a documentary filmed on the fly by the Norwegian director Fredrik S. Hana. His friend Marius expressed the wish to find his mother, so they decided to make a film about his search for her.

Marius' father went to work in Japan in 1980. He married a Japanese woman. He returned to Norway with her, where they had a son: Marius. A few years later his mother left the family and returned to Japan. Now 27 years have passed, and Marius wants to see her again. He knows nothing about her except for her name. He doesn't have any memories of her, because he was too young. The film documents his efforts, using a private detective to find her address, then spending six months taking an intensive course in Japanese before travelling to Japan.

The film is intense and emotional. At the beginning he doesn't even know if he'll be successful. His mother might be dead, or she might refuse to see him. Is there a happy ending? You'll have to watch the film to find out.

There are faults in the film. The main problem is that there's hardly any mention of Marius' father. Is he dead? That's my assumption. Didn't he ever make an attempt to find his wife? There are so many unanswered questions surrounding the father that could have been cleared up with 60 seconds of questioning inserted into the opening scenes.

It also bothers me that the photos of his mother are censored. Maybe this was required for the sake of discretion, but it spoils the enjoyment of the film. We don't want to see a woman with a blank face. Besides, the photos are 30 years old, so what harm would it do to see what she looked like?

Magnus (4 Stars)

This is a documentary about the reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, from his early years to November 2013, when he became world champion. During the final credits there are a few scenes from events that took place later.

Magnus was born on 30th November 1990 in Tonsberg, Norway. He has an older sister and two younger sisters. From his early years his father was concerned about his physical development. Was he autistic? That isn't stated in the documentary, but when asked in interviews whether he's autistic he's replied "Isn't it obvious?"

Because of his skills recognising patterns, his father taught him how to play chess. He took to the game immediately and soon overtook his father. He became a chess grandmaster in 2004 at the age of 13. That's when I first began to follow his career. At that time I had an active interest in chess. I was a member of a chess club in Birmingham, and I was working for Chessbase as a translator. I read about Magnus Carlsen's development on the Chessbase website. (Chessbase's German website has more detailed news reports).

The documentary gives insight into his personal life that was missing from the Chessbase articles. I never knew that he had sisters, and I didn't know that he likes to read Donald Duck comics.

Despite barely winning the qualification tournament, Magnus was the clear favourite to win the world championship match against Viswanathan Anand in 2013. He'd already been the world's highest ranking player for two years. The world championship was fought in Anand's home town of Chennai in India, but this gave him no obvious disadvantage. The documentary shows Magnus in a daze as he arrives at the airport. He was in a strange world, and he was overwhelmed by the way people made a fuss of him. Obviously, the Indians wanted their hometown hero to win, but they graciously respected Magnus when he was victorious.

Magnus didn't lose a single game. He became world champion after 10 games (three wins and seven draws).

Back in November 2013 I wrote detailed reviews of all 10 games:

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 1

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 2

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 3

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 4

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 5

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 6

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 7

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 8

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 9

World Chess Championship 2013, Game 10

I'm very proud of these reviews. I was an amateur when it came to reviewing chess games, but I think my reviews are very good. I've read the reviews a few times over the years, and I have to ask myself, "Did I really write all that myself?" I remember that I put hours of effort into the reviews every day, but even so, I don't think I could ever do something like that again. It was a unique period of inspiration that I'll never have again. Since then Magnus has defended his world championship three times (2014, 2016 and 2018), but I haven't been able to write any more reviews.

In the after credits scenes we see some of Magnus Carlsen's other activities. He was a fashion model for G-Star Raw, posing with Liv Tyler and Gemma Arterton. That would have driven any normal man like me crazy, but not Magnus. All he thinks about is chess. He claims that he's always thinking about chess, whatever he's doing.

I greatly enjoyed the documentary. It's not for everyone, but it's ideal for chess fanatics like me. As far as I know, it's never been released on disc, but it's available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Welcome to Norway (4 Stars)

Norway is a beautiful country. Very few people would argue with that. However, it's a beautiful country to look at or visit briefly, not a beautiful country to live in. That's the plight we see in this  film. 50 refugees from various African and middle eastern countries are sent to live in a newly opened refugee centre somewhere in northern Norway. The location of the camp isn't specified, but the northernmost real refugee centre is in Kirkenes, close to Norway's north coast. Here are the temperatures for the last 12 months.

That's hardly a hospitable climate for visitors from warm countries. It's no surprise that there are many refugees who run away from the camp. It could be worse. There have been calls for Norway to send all of its refugees to Longyearbyen on the Island of Spitzbergen, because there's a desperate shortage of workers. That's hardly surprising. Nobody wants to live there.

But let's get back to the film itself. A businessman called Primus has the idea to profit from the misfortune of others. He converts his rundown hotel into a refugee centre, because the Norwegian government will give him a grant of $12,200 per year for every refugee he houses. The problem, as he soon discovers, is that he can't just put the money in his own pocket. He has to spend the money on food, clothing, entertainment and Norwegian language courses for the refugees. The entertainment isn't just table tennis tables, as he hopes. The refugees expect 50" televisions and Playstations. Poor Primus will be lucky if he has any money left from the grant.

Can it get any worse? Yes. The government inspectors withhold the grant until the centre is in a fit state to live in. The hotel was never fully occupied, so Primus didn't know that the electric power supply isn't enough to keep all the centre's lights and televisions running at once. He needs an additional generator.

On top of it all, Primus doesn't even like foreigners. He frequently uses the N-word to describe not just the African refugees but anyone with skin darker than the average Norwegian.

The film is a delicious dark comedy. Refugees are a sensitive subject, in Norway and in other countries. People are either strongly in favour of accepting refugees or strongly against letting them in. There's no middle ground, so people argue about the subject. The film just calls on us all to stop arguing and sit together laughing.

I'm happy to say that the film is available on Amazon Prime in the USA. I wish it were also available in European countries, because the subject is more relevant in Europe.

In Order Of Disappearance (5 Stars)

This is an utterly amazing film that stars Bruno Ganz and Stellan Skarsgard. The idea behind the story is something that's been filmed many times before, but the story's setting makes it unique.

Nils Dickman is a highly respected snow plough driver in a small Norwegian village. His son Ingvar works at the small local airport. Everything seems peaceful, but there are crime syndicates at work. Two gangs are distributing heroin, and they've reached an agreement to divide the area between them. One gang is ruled by a young Norwegian businessman who calls himself the Count. The other is ruled by an elderly Serb who calls himself Papa.

Both gangs bring their drugs into Norway through the same airport. One of the airport staff steals a bag of heroin. The Count incorrectly suspects Ingvar and kills him by injecting him with heroin. When the police find him they treat it as an accidental death, but Nils is certain that his son wasn't an addict. He investigates, and he manages to kill three of the Count's men. But that isn't enough. He wants to kill the Count himself.

The Count has no idea who's attacking him, so he assume it's the Serbians trying to wrest control of his area. He kills a drug courier, not knowing that it's Papa's son. This sparks an all out war between the two gangs, with Nils caught in the middle.

Some reviewers call this film a black comedy. That's not true. There's nothing at all funny about what happens in the film. However, the film is given a slight comedic element by keeping a tally of the deaths. Every time someone is killed his name is presented on the screen with a cross. In most cases we didn't even know the name of the person before his name is written.

Maybe the reviewers find the film amusing because the main character spends most of his time driving around in his snow plough. That's hardly a suitable vehicle for a man on a killing spree. I can appreciate the absurdity of the situation, but it's not meant to be funny. We see that anyone can seek vengeance, even a snow plough driver.

Stellan Skarsgard and the late Bruno Ganz are both superb actors. Seeing them side by side is a pleasure. I don't recognise any of the other actors, most of them Norwegian or Danish, but they're all highly skilled. The film can't be faulted.

"In Order of Disappearance" has been remade in America as "Cold Pursuit". I missed it when it was in the cinema. I'll have to look for it now, to see if the remake is successful.

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Valley of Shadows (4 Stars)

This is the 22nd Film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

The six-year-old boy Aslak lives in a house on the edge of a forest in Norway. The area is sparsely populated, and his only friend is Lasse, a few years older than him, the son of a nearby shepherd.

Sheep have been killed recently. The shepherds don't think that a normal animal has killed them, because they haven't been eaten. They say that they've been killed for fun. They suspect that a werewolf has killed them, but they don't want to start a panic, so they tell people a wild dog has killed them. Lasse tells Aslak the truth.

Aslak's dog disappears, so he goes deep into the woods looking for him. He finds a cabin inhabited by a mysterious stranger, who invites him to stay for the night.

The film excels because of its dreamy atmosphere. It's a slow moving film in which almost nothing happens. It's questionable whether it should be classified as a horror film. There's talk about werewolves, but we never see any.

This film is in complete contrast to "Prospect", which I watched yesterday. "Prospect" bored me because it was too slow. "Valley of Shadows" is even slower in its pacing, but the atmosphere fascinated me.

Thelma (4 Stars)

Thelma is an 18-year-old girl who comes from a small community on the coast of Norway. She's a Christian, she's never drunk alcohol and she's still a virgin. She's a good girl from a good family. When she goes to university in Oslo her life is turned around. She has to try out alcohol to see if it's as bad as people say. As for sex, she finds herself being more attracted to girls than to boys. This gives her strong feelings of guilt, because she knows that homosexuality is evil. It's what she's been told all her life.

At the beginning of her first year at university she has epileptic seizures. At least, the seizures have the form of epilepsy. The doctors tell her that it's something different, something stress-related. Unknown to the doctors, it's much more than stress. When the seizures occur birds are attracted to her, flying against windows to get to her.

The mystery slowly unfolds. Her parents have known that Thelma possesses supernatural powers since she was six, and they've relied on Thelma's Christian beliefs to suppress the powers. When she wants something to happen it happens. Now that Thelma's beliefs are growing weaker the powers are returning.

"Thelma" was Norway's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Academy Awards, so I knew it would be a high quality film before I went to the cinema. It has the typical traits of Scandinavian supernatural films. It moves slowly, relying on the atmosphere and a slow buildup of  suspense to impress the viewer. I greatly enjoyed it, but I can't say that everyone felt the same way. A couple sitting a few seats away from me were laughing whenever something happened. They didn't get it. I agree, Norwegian films aren't for everyone, but they should have made a bit more effort.

Vidar the Vampire (4 Stars)

This is the ninth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Vidar is a farmer in a small Norwegian village. He belongs to a strict Christian church, and he only wants two things: he wants to see Jesus, and he wants to lose his virginity before he turns 30.

One of Vidar's wishes is granted. Jesus appears to him and turns Vidar into a vampire. We find out that Jesus rose again 2000 years ago because he had just been made a vampire.

Despite Jesus constantly encouraging him, Vidar begins to think there are more important things in life than drinking blood, and he tries to free himself from his addiction.

This is a shockingly blasphemous horror comedy. Watch it if you dare.

Cold Prey (3 Stars)

This Norwegian film is a variant on the cabin in the woods films. Instead of the cabin being hidden in a forest, it's a deserted hotel tucked away between snowy ski slopes.

Five teenagers drive to a remote location to go skiing at the weekend. It really is remote. Nobody else is anywhere near them. It's their intention to stay away from the popular ski lodges, which are little more than tourist traps for people too lazy to go out onto the ski slopes.

In the  afternoon one of the boys breaks his leg. The others try to carry him back to civilisation. They stumble on an abandoned building, which turns out to be a hotel that hasn't been used for 20 years, based on the evidence of the guest book. Surprisingly, it's still well stocked with alcohol, so the teenagers aren't too reluctant to wait until the next day.

But someone or something is lurking in the hotel with them. The next day they're killed one by one.

As horror films go, I find "Cold Prey" average. Apart from the unusual setting it follows the standard formula of teenage horror films. It's not bad, but it has nothing about it that makes it memorable.

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Welcome to Norway (4 Stars)

Primus is a man with a vision. He owns a run down hotel in the north of Norway. He hasn't been able to attract many visitors, so he has an idea that is sure to succeed: he turns his hotel into a refugee centre. It's easy money. He's paid $12,200 per year by the Norwegian government for every refugee that he houses, and since his hotel is large enough for 50 refugees he'll earn more than $600,000 a year.

What seems so easy soon turns into a nightmare. When the bus arrives with 50 refugees none of them speak Norwegian -- does that surprise anyone? -- and hardly anyone speaks English. Primus' profit margin shrinks when he realises that he can't just put the government grant in his pocket. He needs to provide the refugees with food, Playstations and language courses. On top of that the government grant is initially withheld because the inspectors don't consider the accommodation suitable, so he has to carry out renovations on his own costs. The refugees don't get on with one another because of religious differences. Then he has to witness that his daughter begins a lesbian relationship with a Lebanese Moslem.

Fortunately Primus finds one young refugee, Abedi from the Congo, who is a language genius. He speaks English, French, Norwegian, Arabic and Swahili, so he's able to function as an interpreter. He also becomes Primus' best friend in the centre.

This is a hilarious comedy. I was laughing no much that I was crying, and it seems that the other people in the cinema felt the same. It's a tragic comedy, due to Norway's refugee policy that was tightened this year. In theory Norway has an open door policy, as far as entering the country is concerned, but as soon as a refugee arrives he has to prove that he has sufficient reasons to remain in Norway, even if he comes from a war zone. More than 90% of the refugees in Norway are deported to Russia or Greece. (By an agreement reached with the EU, refugees who arrive via another EU country can be deported to any EU country if refused asylum, but Norway doesn't like to deport refugees to Sweden or Finland because of the danger that they will re-enter Norway illegally at uncontrolled border crossings. Refugees who arrive via Russia are returned to Russia if they still have valid Russian transit visas, but if their visa has expired attempts are made to deport them to other countries).

I've watched a few Norwegian films, but this is the first comedy I've seen, and it makes a good impression. Norwegians are evidently able to make fun of themselves. I like that.

TV Series: Lilyhammer

I feel so disillusioned with television that two years ago (or was it three?) I cancelled my TV licence. There's just not enough good stuff on television to justify the monthly fee. I can watch the few programmes I want to watch on Iplayer or similar services. Alternatively I can buy TV series on DVD or Blu-ray.

A note to my American readers: In England and many other European countries there is a television tax. In England this tax is called a TV licence and is used to fund the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), so that it can broadcast programmes without being financed by adverts.

In these dark days for television I am so happy to have discovered a gem like "Lilyhammer". It's a Norwegian series starring Steven Van Zandt as Frank Tagliano, a high ranking member of the New York Mafia. After his dog Lily is killed in an unsuccessful assassination attempt he testifies against the head of the Mafia. He goes into witness protection in Norway, in the town of Lillehammer (which he prefers to call Lilyhammer after his dog), under the new identity of Giovanni Henriksen. Soon after settling in he sees the promise of his new environment and decides to transform Lillehammer into a new Las Vegas under his control. The series follows his attempts to create an organised crime syndicate in the small snow-covered town.

The series is in a mixture of Norwegian and English. Giovanni speaks almost no Norwegian when he arrives, but he soon becomes able to understand most of what he hears. One criticism that I have of the DVD release of season one is that the menu only lists "English" as subtitles, which offers subtitles for all spoken dialogue. There is a second subtitle track that only presents subtitles when Norwegian is spoken, but this is only accessible via the DVD player's subtitle button, it isn't listed in the menus.

I've seen some reviews refer to this series as a comedy. That isn't quite accurate. Many scenes seem amusing because of the culture clash, but they're very realistic. We can imagine that this would really happen to a New York gangster trying to make a new life in the mountains of Norway. Don't forget that this is a Norwegian series, filmed on location in the town of Lillehammer itself. The writers and producers of the series present Norway as it really is, and I'm sure that the lead actor Steven Van Zandt is quick to tell them what seems strange to him as an American. I strongly recommend this series to people who want to watch something different. You'll enjoy it even if you don't usually like gangster series.

Troll Hunter (4½ Stars)

There's been a lot of buzz about this film ever since it was released in 2010. Usually when a film receives a lot of hype I avoid it. Often the praise is exaggerated, or it's only based on spectacular special effects that barely disguise a poorly written story. In this case I had higher hopes. Simply because the film is Norwegian. Norway has a small film industry, so the stories that make it from screenplay to the screen are filtered. Only the best seep through.

I wasn't disappointed. "Troll Hunter" imitates the style of "Blair Witch Project". We see an amateur film crew from Volda College following a man called Hans who claims to be a troll hunter working for an official government agency. At first they are sceptical, but as they follow him they see the proof of his words.

I can't really say much about the film to recommend it. Just watch the trailer.

Norwegian Ninja (4 Stars)

In 1984 a Norwegian politician called Arne Treholt was arrested and tried for treason, having allegedly spied for Russia. This was the biggest spy affair in Norwegian history. This film attempts to tell the real story in a semi-documentary style.

In the 1980's there was a secret Nato organisation called Stay Behind. The purpose of this organisation, which had branches throughout Europe, was to influence public opinion and sway people to vote for political parties that would support a preemptive military strike against Russia. They did this by carrying out terrorist attacks in major European cities which could be blamed on Russia. The first attacks in Italy and Turkey were accepted as necessary evils, but when plans were discovered to blow up a Norwegian oil rig King Olaf of Norway objected. He created an elite fighting force called the Norwegian Ninjas to fight against Nato and preserve the Norwegian way of life.

Those of us who live in Europe and are old enough to remember the political climate of the 1980's will understand this film best. The atmosphere of cold war paranoia was oppressive. We were afraid of the Russian threat, but we also mistrusted our American big brother who was promising to protect us. In Germany the popular slogan was "Lieber rot als tot", i.e. "I'd rather be red than dead". The film shows Norway as the lone voice of reason in a world gone mad.

Click here to view the trailer.

Cry In The Woods (5 Stars)

I bought this DVD a few years ago on the recommendation of a friend who told me it was her favorite film. I wasn't disappointed. It's loosely based on a novel by Karin Fossum called "He who fears the wolf". I say loosely, because the film adds elements not included in the novel. I read the book after watching the film, and I have to say that the film is better. The film has more of a backstory.

Karsten Skov is a Danish policeman who has moved to the north of Norway. After his divorce he decides to return home. On his last day at work he witnesses a bank robbery. The robber takes a hostage who is an escaped mental patient suspected of murder, and together they hide in the woods.

From this simple story a very complex drama evolves. In typical Norwegian fashion the moral lines between right and wrong are blurred. During the course of the film the viewer develops sympathy for the robber. The search for the two criminals is less important than watching the friendship grow between the robber and his hostage. Karsten is obviously flawed and makes severe errors of judgement. After his last day he continues his investigations "unofficially" because he thinks the police are mishandling the case. Overall an excellent must-watch film.