the original norwegian title - kraftidioten - power idiot
so another case of the anglicised title completely different
maybe the word idiot implies unwanted comedic overtones
though according to reviewers the film contains black humour
the main appeal for me here is swedish actor stellan skarsgard
his character is nils who is a snowplough driver in rural norway
seen at work then dressing and leaving for an important dinner
he has been awarded 'citizen of the year' in his small community
impressively the snow-covered environment is given high profile
clear and sharp multi-coloured images of bright lights and snow
at an airport a young worker is abducted and tossed in a 4wd
his bloodied friend also on-board who then leaps out at speed
young ingvar not so lucky - injected with heroin and dumped
he dies on a railway platform - and news reaches his parents
nils and his wife marit are devastated that their son has died
he refuses to believe the cause of death being self-inflicted
she shuts down and rejects nils and attempts at consoling her
too much to take - he has a gun in his mouth but interrupted
finn the car escapee confesses to nils why ingvar was killed
caught up innocently with finn involved in a cocaine racket
a name is extracted - jappe - and nils then tracks him down
i was not quite prepared for the brutal murder that ensued
a bloodied face from repeated punching then strangulation
this is not gratuitous violence - it's ugly but i can take that
jappe's full name and a cross then on-screen - rest in peace
his body wrapped in chicken wire and tossed over some falls
nils works up the line as that and each death brings up a name
each one realistically brutal and finalised in the same manner
we meet the king-pin drug baron oly greven - aka the count
young, good-looking, rich, protected - ah - the 'power-idiot'
adores his son and despises his ex-wife in equal measure
is chauffeured around in a stunning silver 4 door coupe
he mistakenly thinks serbian rivals are taking out his men
orders the kidnapping of one of them and an interrogation
nothing - so he shoots him in cold blood - oops - mistake
for he is the son of 'papa' - the leader of the serbian cartel
nils has hired a hitman to take out the count - but he squeals
realising his mistake oly shoots one of his own men to save face
orders his be-heading and delivery to the serbs as an apology
no good - papa wants a son for a son - the messenger shot
seems nils has the same idea and kidnaps the count's son
takes him from the nearby city (oslo?) to his own village
and in a rare bit of tenderness nils bonds with the boy
symbolic i guess - time spent (or not) with his son ingvar
but finale time with the count and the serbs arriving in town
the big shootout - expensive cars circling, powerful guns firing
they drop like flies - and same again - names announced on screen
9 killed in the shootout - but the count survives by hiding in a car
not for long - nils cranks up a logging machine and sets to work
in a matter of seconds (really) pulls a tree, strips it and drops it
right through the roof of the car - ah - revenge - like a plunger
doesn't kill him though - a final shot from papa finishes him
so both fathers get their revenge and depart in a snowplough
no words exchanged though - a language barrier - respect
papa is a baddie so kind of has to die - and the final scene
a paraglider comes into view, swings by and yep - bang
that seems odd but papa dead - name and cross on screen
phew - the end - nils has cleaned up and can now relax
me too - the violence makes for quite a heavy time
but balanced with some beautiful norwegian vistas
and yes the black humour e.g. the hapless police
some have said - a scandinavian version of fargo
didn't occur to me but just as memorable - i like it...
