In Order of Disappearance

A very under-rated tour-de-force starring Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard and the great Swiss actor Bruno Ganz. Set in remote Norway, Skarsgard plays the role of a Swedish immigrant snowplow operator whose son, in trouble with the local drug cartel, is murdered by them. This snowplow man is no one to mess with. He finds out who was responsible, and decides to make them 'disappear.' Some depth to the plot, played on several levels. The local cartel responds, not knowing who's making their men disappear one by one, and makes an even bigger mistake by whacking an employee of a rival Serbian drug cartel - making a bit of a triangle of retribution. What follows is pure Fargo-esque. The cinematography of the stark winter scenery in the remote Norwegian mountains is awesome and well-portrayed. The finale is mind-numbingly brilliant. The order of disappearance complete.

This film is amazing in many ways. It does not follow a cliché plot of revenge (although, “technically” it does). In many ways this film is a blend of a very dark Scandinavian humor with a twist and turn of a complicated plot, based (oh, well) on revenge. The violence is graphic. The characters are extremely well defined. Acting, sets, mood, directing – everything is top notch. In this film there is based on a very subtle difference between Norwegian and Swedish cultures that *might* be appealing to the folks who’ve been to these countries, not as just tourists but rather exploring the underlying of the history, feuds, animosities and *very* slight language dialect differences. How about a quote from the film: “Sunshine or welfare?” … With that said, the American title of this film “In Order of Disappearance” is, indeed, very well suited for the plot. However… The actual translation of the title from Norwegian (and/or Swedish) of “Kraftidioten” is meant to be “Power Idiot”… How is that for a Scandinavian sense of humor? All in all, this film is EXCELLENT, worthy of an Amazon rental and *might* be not be well appreciated by an Anglo-Saxon audience who does not a difference between Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Oh, I can’t believe I have just written this… I *am* an American !!!!!!! Also, I am a *huge* fan of Jo Nesbo’s novels. What’s *your* opinion?

Loved this movie 🎥 I think Stellan Skatsgård is an amazing actor. DVD was in terrific condition

If you enjoyed No Country For Old Men, this film will appeal to you. The original title is far better: Kraftidioten (literally: purposeful or powerful idiocy. It can mean something like the Business of Idiocy. The plot is almost an excuse for showing multiple levels of psychological and ethical dysfunction. Everything is covered in snow, and yes, cocaine is involved in the plot. I won't try to summarize it here: it unfolds as almost random events, and all are misinterpreted by at least some of the characters. This film actually becomes more coherent with a second viewing since so many events unfold without explanation. Far more sophisticated, and much more interesting than it's USA remake (Cold Pursuit). Recommend highly, but be advised that the use of blood-bags and gratuitous violence is near to the point of the film.

My mother in law (77), father in law (80), wife (55), son (22) and I all watched this for family movie night. My wife is obsessed with Nordic Noir, so this was her choice. This is one of the better revenge movies I have seen in a very long time. My father in law said that it reminded him of Charles Bronson in Death Wish. The characters were fun, entertaining and the actors, especially Stellan Skarsgard, were fantastic. It was quirky in a way that reminded me of Tarantino films. If you like pulp fiction, Django unchained and Kill Bill, this is the same type of movie you will like. I pointed out the age range of the people watching to give you an idea of the appeal through a broad range of adults from young to old who really enjoyed it. The setting is a small town in Norway, with lots of snow. The villain was truly evil and crazy. The hero was a good man and citizen, just how I like my heroes and villains. Oftentimes these days filmmakers make movies or TV series where you have no one to root for and there is no one you like or care about. This is not the case here. Really fun and highly recommended if you like the type of movie I have described above.

Swift, fleet-of-foot, and efficient, with clean lines and a sleek finish, the Norwegian black comedy In Order of Disappearance glides through the world like a perfectly engineered car or a gorgeous piece of modern furniture. Set in the sparse, blindingly white snowfields of the Scandinavian winter, Hans Petter Moland's violent, satirical crime thriller is assembled with such formal rigor and visual poetry that it throws into high relief the messy, sweaty, almost repulsively human drama that unspools. The film's knockout power is due in no small part to the contributions of cinematographer Philip Øgaard and leading man Stellan Skarsgård, who have worked with the writer-director on two of his best-known features, A Somewhat Gentle Man (2010) and Aberdeen (2000). Though he's backed by a strong ensemble cast that includes Peter Andersson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Danish star Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (Borgen), and German-film star Bruno Ganz (The American Friend), Skarsgård dominates the screen with his 6-foot, 4-inch frame, his outsize rage and grief, and the gigantic snowplow truck he drives. Skarsgård plays Nils, a successful small-town businessman. His world comes crashing down when his twentysomething son turns up dead in Oslo of a drug overdose. Convinced the boy wasn't a drug user, Nils digs deeper, only to find that the young man was murdered on orders from a local thug acting on behalf of Oslo's new drug kingpin, the Count (Pål Sverre Hagen), a spoiled rich kid who is heir to a chain of bakeries. Uncovering this bit of information involves capturing, torturing, and killing a chain of bad guys, each higher up on the mobster totem pole than the last. The killings are gruesome, often absurd events, but Moland's camera doesn't fetishize violence by lingering on the gore and the blood. Nils carefully rolls up each body in chicken wire and throws it off a cliff into a massive waterfall. (Chicken wire? Nils is really proud of the idea: Unlike plastic or tarp, chicken wire lets fishes through from day one so they can eat up the body before it gets all bloated up and floats to the surface. What's more, he explains, chicken wire is heavier than plastic and won't decompose for years, so it'll keep the body in place.) Like the Coen brothers' best flicks, In Order of Disappearance gets its gruesomely comic momentum from a domino effect of unintended consequences put into motion by the hero's actions. The violent whirlwind Nils unleashes sucks in a colorful cast of characters, including a retired mobster known as Wingman (Andersson), a Japanese Danish hit man familiar to clients as the Chinaman (David Sakurai), and, eventually, Scandinavia's top Serbian drug lord, known to all as Papa (Ganz). Operatic, absurdist, and scathing, Moland's story rages on with tremendous force and speed, never slowing down for extraneous junk like backstories, explanations, or tiresome exposition. In Order of Disappearance will no doubt invite comparisons to similarly stylized, violent black comedies by Quentin Tarantino and the Coens. Yet, like 2011's murder farce Headhunters by Moland's Norwegian compatriot Morten Tyldum, In Order of Disappearance has an utterly unique feel, a certain Scandinavian crispness that's impossible to duplicate.

I get revenge movies, especially parental revenge movies, so I have no problem with the violence nor the justification. The movie gets three stars for that. But, there are some witty bits, but wildly funny like some reviews claim is just weird. And dialog is not Tarantino - sorry, I even speaka da norsk, so it's not like I missed the subtleties. Moreover, the story is chock-full of holes and mysterious turns - things just happen. Probable spoilers follow below. 1) One, no, two men lose their sons because of someone else and claim to want to revenge. But not really when the obvious victim is young and cute. 2) What's with the wife (the mom)? The husband won't believe his son's a drug addict and she freaks out about that, won't talk to him, and then mysteriously leaves. What? 3) And what's with the recruiter for the political party? 4) The first couple, three deaths involve some loud bloodiness and no one in the Norwegian judicial system notices? 5) One of the Serbian gang members all of a sudden during a search for their enemy, just takes off to ride a para-glider? And then hours later... 6) ... the near-to-the-end in which the para-glider guy suddenly appears and is sucked into the gi-normous snowblower? Well, Dad was *not* driving that when he and head of the Serbian gang drive off. And none of the cars behind the snowblower truck stop nor investigate? 7) And the ending? The father and head of the Serbian gang drive off together into the sunset? 8) And what about that young and cute son?

This is one of those winning movies which combines wry humor with character study's and gang leaders and their principles/moral compass. What starts out as a kidnapping, quickly turns into a murder, and from there it just keeps on going. This movie is in Norwegian with English sub-titles. Don't let the sub-titles stop you from seeing this movie (if you're concerned about not keeping up), as they are quite good at making the subtitles keep up with the dialogue. (Some foreign movies aren't that good at it.) There are so many scenes that will have you cracking up laughing at things that are being said or done, and yet they are completely incongruous. The comic timing is great, the acting superb, and it will leave you glad that you watched it. Warning, if you don't like violence of any kind, then this movie is not for you. If you are able to watch it in the context of what the movie is about and not let it bother you, we think you will be glad you watched it. Really great movie. We love Scandinavian movies.(Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish-haven't seen too many Finnish, but we might like those as well.)