Day 47: Insomnia (1997)

“Insomnia,” a Norwegian thriller directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg and written by Nikolaj Frobenius, is a no flinching character study of a man, charged to uphold the law, who begins the slippery slope of breaking it in an attempt to cover his guilt. At first its a simple lie, but soon it sinks him deeper into the mire, taking him farther from his former self and closer to a killer, who he searches for.

Set amongst the thick fog and 24-hour sunlight of Tromsø, a city far up in the Norwegian Arctic, Swedish police officers Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) and Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal) are called in to investigate the death of a 17-year-old girl, which currently has no leads.

Coming across the victim’s backpack, Engström sets up a stakeout for the killer and, when the cover is blown, he ends up chasing a shadowy figure through the dense fog while his partner tries to cut the killer off from the other side. But things go from bad to worse when the killer begins shooting at Engström and the police officer returns fire in the fog, killing, not his intended target, but his own partner.

Stricken with grief and seeking a not to tarnish is already tainted record, Engström lies about his partner’s death, blaming it on the killer, who he plans to bring in quickly and quietly. But, Engström doesn’t have to wait long as the killer comes to him, fully aware that the policeman killed his partner in the fog. Now, if they both plan to live on, the two men will have to come to some sort of truce before both are seen for who they truly are.

What makes “Insomnia” so much more than just a simple mystery thriller is how it creates a thorough study of a man and his guilt with the use of the environment around him. With the sun beating down 24/7 on the Norwegian landscape, Engström has nowhere to hide from his problems. Light, in some fashion, is always on him, even when he seeks the darkness. In one scene, Engström pulls the shade down in his hotel room to get some sleep, but the light pierces even brighter through the bottom of the window and, eventually, the shade begins creeping back up. In a way, this reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a story where a murderer is pursued by the incessant beating of his victim’s heart. In both cases, the murderer can’t get away from the truth, which, in Engström’s case, hopes to be seen in the light.

It also should be noted how the concept of sight plays heavily in the film. Though all is visible with the 24-hour sun, Engström still mistakenly kills his partner when the fog clouds his vision. In another scene, as Engström thinks over his guilt, a stray dog comes out of an alley and barks, as if he knowing what the policeman has done. Later, Engström is taken to a litter of kittens and is told that they cannot yet see him, even though they lay in his hand. All these instances of sight, play as a way to both heighten Engström’s guilt and possibly to make a point that the future is unseen and we cannot always plan for the mistakes we are going to make.

“Insomnia” is an excellent film that substitutes typical action for inner-turmoil to great effect and leaves the audience to think deeply on the issue of guilt as they go about their lives in the light of day.

To learn more about “Insomnia,” check out Criterion’s page here.

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