KRAFTIDIOTEN/IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE

Norway,2013,105 minutes, Colour.
Stellan Skaarsgard, Pal Sverre Hagan, Bruno Ganz, Peter Andersson.
Directed by Hanns Petter Moland.

Ironic title? An unusual for a film from Scandinavia, especially from Norway. This is a further collaboration between Stellan Skarsgaard and director Hans Petter Moland.

The title is to be taken literally because there is a rather high body count and each time someone, or a group, dies, the death notice comes up on the screen. So, this is a thriller with touches of a black comedy.

It is winter in Norway and there are vivid scenes of snow and ice, with the central character, declared that the opening of the film as citizen of the year, driving the snow ploughs to clear the roads. In the meantime, down at the airport, a group of drug dealers accost two of the workers, including the son of the citizen of the year. He gets the news to come to the morgue with his wife and identify his son who was found dead on a street bench in the city, allegedly dead from a drug-overdose. The parents deny that this was the case.

The film then turns into something of a vigilante-pursuit of the criminals – with a verbal reference in the film to Dirty Harry, but the plot is more in the line of Charles Bronson and Death Wish.

The father proves himself to be something of a detective, finding out one piece of information, attacking the person referred to and killing him, but getting another name before the death and so on.

In the meantime, the drug chief, a rather crazed young man who goes by the name of Count and who has inherited this business from his father, is bewildered by the deaths and disappearances of his henchmen. It is suggested that this is the work of a group from Serbia who are challenging the Count. This leads to another subplot, the clash between the Serbs and the Count’s men, and several deaths and death notices. The father goes to see his brother who formerly worked for the Count’s father but who is now married to an Asian wife who insists that he move out of the world of crime. The Count does get some information about the surname of the killer, Dickman, and assumes that it is the brother, has a talk with him – and another death notice.

Which means that the father has to do something drastic as regards the Count. The Count is a estranged from his wife but devoted to his young son – and the father decides that he will abduct the boy. The trouble is that the Serbs decide to do the very same thing. This leads to a showdown, a big shootout, but with the old Serb leader (Bruno Ganz), the father triumphs. The Count (who looks something like a Scandinavian version of Richard E. Grant) is still raving at the end.

Had this been an American film, many European critics would have dismissed it as typical. But, since it is a Norwegian film working the genre, they responded to it very favourably.

Serious, comic – and often tongue-in-cheek.

1. The title? The tone? Irony? The visualising of the death notices?

2. A drug world story? Importers, dealers, thieves, thugs? The police?

3. Vigilante story, a dead son, getting a death list? The importance of the son of the Count and the son of the Serbian chief?

4. Norway in winter, the dark, the snow, the mountains, the snow ploughs, the roads, the airport, the city? The musical score?

5. The introduction to Nils, getting ready, the tie and his wife, the speech in the voice-over, the snow ploughs, going home? His being the Citizen of the Year?

6. The plane, the airport, the thugs, Finn, Ingvar, the attack, Finn and his escape and the taking of Ingvar, on the seat in the city, dead from the drug overdose?

7. Nils’ reaction, the reaction of his wife to the news, denial, her leaving, the note with no message?

8. At the morgue, the reactions, denying Ingvar was an addict? Finn and the information, his confession? His being murdered? Giving a name?

9. Nils and his pursuit, getting names for each from each of his victims? Japp and his taunting? Ronnie and his passing on the name? Strike, the punches? Nils and his killing all the men? Rolling them in wire and throwing them over the waterfall?

10. The Count, his age, inheriting the business from his father, the alienation from his wife, their arguments, the divorce? His love for his son? Concerned about his food, he himself a vegan? Five fruits a day for his son? Eating the Fruit Loops? The thugs and drivers, their talk, in front of the boy, Count’s anger, driving him to school? The wife, her re-appearances, her knowing the truth, getting the benefit from the money, wanting a divorce?

11. The Count hearing about the missing thugs, presuming it was the work of the Serbs? His outrageous racist remarks? Capturing the Serb, torturing him, killing him, hanging him on the sign of the height in metres on the mountain? The police discovering him?

12. The Serb reaction, vengeance, the group of thugs, the old leader and his determination? Going to the hotel, all the men in one room?

13. Nils, going to his brother, asking for information, the Asian wife, her wanting her husband to reform? The name of the Chinese hitman? The 90,000 for him, the Chinese betraying him, giving his name to the Count, his being killed? The Count going to the brother, the brother working for the Count’s father in the past, mocking his name Dikman? killing him? The funeral, the wife walking away?

14. Negotiations with the Serbs, the bargaining, the shooting, the head in the box?

15. The plans for the abduction of the boy, Nils and his truck, the Serbs and the pursuit? The wife, her anger with the Count, his punching her?

16. The two gay thugs? The Count shooting one? The phone betrayal by the other, revenge?

17. The boy, the bond with Nils, hiding him, reading him the story about the snow ploughs at night?

18. The vigil, Nils been caught, the Count and his entourage, the Serbs arriving, a kind of shootout at a corral? The log going into the Count’s car? His dying and his angry outburst?

19. The Serb chief in the truck with Nils, both men with their sons killed? Revenge?

20. The touches of humour, the over the top performance of the Count, yet the morbid theme?