MYRIN (JAR CITY)

Iceland, 2006, 95 minutes, Colour.
Ingvar E. Sigurdsson.
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur.

Given its very small population (just over 300,000), Iceland has a reputable film industry and many of its productions receive international release. Baltasar Kormakur is one of the most prominent directors with 101 Reykjavik, The Sea and A Little Taste of Heaven.

Those who enjoy police thrillers will like Jar City, especially those who liked the Scandinavian versions of Insomnia or Nightwatch or read the novels of Henning Menkel of Sweden. This film is based on an award-winning novel by Arnaldur Indrioasen.

The setting is Reykjavik, especially its suburbs. An institution that is compiling computer records of the lives (and illnesses) of the inhabitants is the subject of ethical questions in terms of invasion of privacy. One man is illegally undertaking his own investigation, especially concerning the brain disease that is killing his young daughter.

In the meantime, the body of an elderly man is found, murdered.

The two strands will eventually come together quite effectively, especially through the police work of the inspector and his team. The inspector also has serious problems with his addict daughter.

Since this is not Los Angeles and the world of private eyes, the atmosphere is quite dark, the story is bleak and questions are raised about this isolated population and some consequences of sexual assault and inbreeding.

Jar City unravels its mystery in an intelligent and interesting way.

1.An Icelandic story, police and murder mystery, glimpse of life in Iceland?

2.The bleak settings, the city, the suburbs? The countryside? The Jar City archive? The institute? The bleak weather? The ordinary life of Icelanders, homes, clubs, police precincts? Atmospheric score?

3.The title, the archive, Reykjavik, its atmosphere?

4.The institution, the information, the research, the legal discussions about privacy? Orn and his work in the archive, his research, project, the later revelation about what he was seeking?

5.Orn, middle-aged man, love for his daughter, his wife? The hospital sequences, his daughter dying, the grief at the funeral? His relationship with his mother?

6.The dead body, the children finding it? Inspecter Erlendur? His character, work, hard-pressed, his team and associates? Seeing them at work, the attention to detail? The investigations, the questioning, the leads?

7.The inspector and his relationship with his daughter, her drug addiction, asking for money, his refusal? Rescuing her? Bringing her home? The parallels of parents and children throughout the film? The finale and his being with his daughter? His nightmares and explaining them to her?

8.The identification of the dead man, his being a thug, the other thugs, the one in prison, the one who disappeared? The cover-up by the police inspector? Their behaviour in the past, sexual behaviour, photos, their use for blackmail? The revelation about the illness, the exhumation of the young girl in the photo?

9.The further investigations about rapes, the interview with the dead girl’s aunt? The interview with Orn’s mother? The revelation of her affair with the thug? The confrontation, Orn killing him?

10.The truth about the past, the reality of inbreeding? Orn and his upset, discovering the truth about his father, passing on the illness to his daughter?

11.The issue of genetics, Icelandic society? The Jar City Institute? The appropriateness of information being given out?

12.The film as a mystery, as an exercise in police detection? The careful study of the inspector himself, his character, difficulties, his skills and the work of his associates?

13.The film as a comment on Iceland, its society? Orn and his death? A pessimistic perspective?