Movies - Insomnia

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Insomnia (film)

	Movies - Insomnia

Insomnia is the name of two movies – a Norwegian original and an American remake – about a police officer investigating a murder above the Arctic Circle during the summer with the midnight sun. The officer suffers from insomnia, partly due to relentless guilt over recent and ongoing misdeeds, and partly due to the never-ending sunlight, which serves as an outward representation of that guilt. The films have been described as turning noir conventions on their heads by using, in place of shadows and darkness, relentless sunshine and ubiquitous bright white fog and snow to convey guilt and confusion. The original Norwegian version opened in 1997, and the American remake followed in 2002.

1997 Version

Insomnia (1997) was the debut film of Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg, telling the story of a cross-border collaboration between Swedish and Norwegian police to hunt down the killer of a fifteen-year-old girl in the Norwegian Arctic. The investigation goes horribly wrong when police officer Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) mistakenly shoots one of his colleagues and subsequently attempts to cover up his bungle. The title of the film refers to Engström's inability to sleep, the result of both his guilt and the relentless glare of the midnight sun.

The screenplay for the film was written by Nikolaj Frobenius.

2002 Version

Insomnia was remade as an American film in 2002. It was directed by Christopher Nolan (fresh from the success of his previous film, Memento) and starred Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.

The story takes place in the small fishing town of Nightmute, Alaska, where a local 17-year-old girl is found murdered. Two LAPD detectives, Will Dormer (Pacino) (compare Latin dormire and its Romance offshoots = "sleep") and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are sent up to assist the local police with their investigation while an intense Internal Affairs investigation back in Los Angeles is about to put Dormer under the microscope.

During a botched stakeout, Dormer accidentally shoots and kills Eckhart during a pursuit in a heavy fog. Since Eckhart was about to sell Dormer out to Internal Affairs upon their return, Dormer tries to cover up that he is the one who shot Eckhart, knowing that Internal Affairs will suspect him of having killed his partner. Ellie Burr (Swank), a young and eager police officer, is put in charge of the investigation into Eckhart's shooting.

Throughout the film, Dormer becomes more and more unhinged, partly because of feelings of guilt over shooting his partner and anxiety about the risk of being found out, partly because of insomnia brought on by the perpetual daylight of the Alaskan summer. Adding to his delirium are the phone calls he receives from Walter Finch (Williams), the girl's killer, who saw Dormer shoot Eckhart and knows about his attempt to cover it up.

Although the remake echoed much of the substance of the original, it also significantly altered both the plot and the nature of the police officer main character. The Pacino character is more sympathetic and capable of redemption than the Skarsgård character.

Influence

Many of the themes of Insomnia, including a main character racked by insomnia due to guilt, were also prominent in the 2004 film The Machinist
.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Insomnia (film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Insomnia (film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay