In Order of DisappearanceHaving a loved one taken can drive one to extremes. In Order of Disappearance is the story of a hard-working snowplow driver in Norway named Nils (Stellan Skarsgård), whose son, Ingvar (Aron Eskeland), is killed by drug smugglers, his death staged to look like a heroin overdose. Nils is unconvinced that his son's death was an accident. When Finn (Tobias Santelmann), Ingvar's friend and accomplice, approaches Nils and tells him of his son's connection to a local organized crime syndicate presided over by the ostentatious ringleader known as "The Count" (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen), Nils begins a crusade of bloodshed against the culprits who took his son away and ruined his normal life.
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In Order of Disappearance is a suspense-driven action film, with moments of black comedy peppered throughout. It is a film which combines shocking moments of violence, an increasingly complex plot which introduces new characters at various turns, and depicts the local flavor of Norway; as a result, comparisons have been made to Fargo. As the film is set in Norway, snow is ubiquitous; it is in virtually every scene of the film. Nils is very skilled at his job as a snowplow driver and knowledgeable about the roads in the mountainous reaches of Norway, even willing to use his massive machinery in his pursuit of justice. Nils is cited as the "Citizen of the Year", considering how intertwined the snow is in these parts of the Scandinavian country and his efforts to contain it, and is a respected member of his small town of Tyos. This makes his descent into a vengeance-seeking killer all the more surprising, as the slayings are so uncharacteristic of a man like Nils that it isn't until very late into In Order of Disappearance that his involvement in destabilizing the mob's drug empire becomes apparent.
The film alternates between Nils and The Count (a.k.a. Ole Forsby), underscoring the dramatic differences between these two men. Nils is an everyman, modest and unassuming, who has a traditional job and a loving wife. Nils (like the actor, Stellan Skarsgård) is Swedish--an immigrant to Norway; his unintentionally condescending neighbor points this out, and proclaims him to be a "good immigrant". It is an unintended slight, but one which calls attention to an undercurrent of In Order of Disappearance, about an elitist attitude that Norwegians are presumed to have regarding immigrants, including their neighbors from Sweden. This theme is actually at the root of the conflicts which arise between The Count and his rivals in the drug community in Norway, the Serbians, headed by an old-world patriarch, known only as "Papa" (Bruno Ganz). After Nils begins his clawing his way up the ranks of the criminal element, slaying The Count's henchmen along the way, The Count immediately presumes that it is the result of aggression by the Serbians (who he consistently misidentifies as Albanians), and begins a war out of both his ignorance and arrogance. The Count's disdain for the Serbians also comes from the sense that as they are immigrants, they are beneath him, and should know their place. The Count is unlikable from the first; an upper-class vegan mob boss who poses as a sweet shop mogul of all things, wearing his hear in an absurd half ponytail. He exemplifies the worst kind of tastelessness that accompanies the nouveau riche, with ridiculous decor in his fancy home, driving a sports car that screams overcompensation. Perhaps his one saving grace is the same one he shares with Nils--a love for his son, Rune (Jack Sødahl Moland)--The Count, however, is a poor father, even going so far as to encourage his son to use violence at school as a means of problem resolution. The battle between Nils and The Count is also a metaphor for the battle between the classes and elitist attitudes of Norway.
In Order of Disappearance is a high-quality Norwegian film, filled with several recognizable stars of Scandinavian cinema, including Kristofer Hivju as "Strike", a lieutenant in The Count's gang, and Stig Henrik Hoff as a Tyos cop--both actors were also in The Thing (2011) as members of the ill-fated Norwegian team. The setting and tone of In Order of Disappearance shares some similarities to the 1997 thriller, Insomnia, which also starred Stellan Skarsgård, and which was later remade in America by Christopher Nolan. Even more interesting is that In Order of Disappearance is slated for an American remake itself, by the same director, Hans Petter Moland, to be titled Hard Powder. This suggests an unsung quality of Norwegian film, that it has great appeal for American audiences, sharing similarities with action films from the United States. It is also clear that Hollywood has influenced the world of In Order of Disappearance; the kind of black humor which surrounds scenes of violence is reminiscent of the films of Quentin Tarantino, like Pulp Fiction. Every time a character dies--on-screen or, more comically, off-screen--the name of the deceased (and alias, where applicable) is given a title card and a religious symbol associated with that character's faith. This becomes a running gag is when Nils begins disposing of the bodies of the gangsters he kills by wrapping them in chicken wire and chucking them off a waterfall, the same kind of shot used each time and with the same musical sample played alongside it. Many of the characters use aliases or pseudonyms, befitting the criminal underworld. While these codenames are not themselves unusual, virtually all of them are derived from some kind of famous movie, like Bullitt or Top Gun, most of which are American movies. Even Nils' brother and former gangster, Egil (Peter Andersson), describes this quest for vengeance to be like that of "Dirty Harry". All of this suggests a deeply ingrained international element coursing through In Order of Disappearance, heavily inspired by Hollywood films, and Norwegian cinema as a whole.
Recommended for: Fans of a suspenseful action film tinged with occasional moments of black comedy, and one that draws attention to contemporary Norwegian themes--such as social status and national identity--even for an audience which might not be familiar with all of the context.
The film alternates between Nils and The Count (a.k.a. Ole Forsby), underscoring the dramatic differences between these two men. Nils is an everyman, modest and unassuming, who has a traditional job and a loving wife. Nils (like the actor, Stellan Skarsgård) is Swedish--an immigrant to Norway; his unintentionally condescending neighbor points this out, and proclaims him to be a "good immigrant". It is an unintended slight, but one which calls attention to an undercurrent of In Order of Disappearance, about an elitist attitude that Norwegians are presumed to have regarding immigrants, including their neighbors from Sweden. This theme is actually at the root of the conflicts which arise between The Count and his rivals in the drug community in Norway, the Serbians, headed by an old-world patriarch, known only as "Papa" (Bruno Ganz). After Nils begins his clawing his way up the ranks of the criminal element, slaying The Count's henchmen along the way, The Count immediately presumes that it is the result of aggression by the Serbians (who he consistently misidentifies as Albanians), and begins a war out of both his ignorance and arrogance. The Count's disdain for the Serbians also comes from the sense that as they are immigrants, they are beneath him, and should know their place. The Count is unlikable from the first; an upper-class vegan mob boss who poses as a sweet shop mogul of all things, wearing his hear in an absurd half ponytail. He exemplifies the worst kind of tastelessness that accompanies the nouveau riche, with ridiculous decor in his fancy home, driving a sports car that screams overcompensation. Perhaps his one saving grace is the same one he shares with Nils--a love for his son, Rune (Jack Sødahl Moland)--The Count, however, is a poor father, even going so far as to encourage his son to use violence at school as a means of problem resolution. The battle between Nils and The Count is also a metaphor for the battle between the classes and elitist attitudes of Norway.
In Order of Disappearance is a high-quality Norwegian film, filled with several recognizable stars of Scandinavian cinema, including Kristofer Hivju as "Strike", a lieutenant in The Count's gang, and Stig Henrik Hoff as a Tyos cop--both actors were also in The Thing (2011) as members of the ill-fated Norwegian team. The setting and tone of In Order of Disappearance shares some similarities to the 1997 thriller, Insomnia, which also starred Stellan Skarsgård, and which was later remade in America by Christopher Nolan. Even more interesting is that In Order of Disappearance is slated for an American remake itself, by the same director, Hans Petter Moland, to be titled Hard Powder. This suggests an unsung quality of Norwegian film, that it has great appeal for American audiences, sharing similarities with action films from the United States. It is also clear that Hollywood has influenced the world of In Order of Disappearance; the kind of black humor which surrounds scenes of violence is reminiscent of the films of Quentin Tarantino, like Pulp Fiction. Every time a character dies--on-screen or, more comically, off-screen--the name of the deceased (and alias, where applicable) is given a title card and a religious symbol associated with that character's faith. This becomes a running gag is when Nils begins disposing of the bodies of the gangsters he kills by wrapping them in chicken wire and chucking them off a waterfall, the same kind of shot used each time and with the same musical sample played alongside it. Many of the characters use aliases or pseudonyms, befitting the criminal underworld. While these codenames are not themselves unusual, virtually all of them are derived from some kind of famous movie, like Bullitt or Top Gun, most of which are American movies. Even Nils' brother and former gangster, Egil (Peter Andersson), describes this quest for vengeance to be like that of "Dirty Harry". All of this suggests a deeply ingrained international element coursing through In Order of Disappearance, heavily inspired by Hollywood films, and Norwegian cinema as a whole.
Recommended for: Fans of a suspenseful action film tinged with occasional moments of black comedy, and one that draws attention to contemporary Norwegian themes--such as social status and national identity--even for an audience which might not be familiar with all of the context.