In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten, 2014): Review of the Norwegian Crime Drama with Stellan Skarsgård
The Norwegian film “In Order of Disappearance” (original Norwegian title – Kraftidioten, released in Russian distribution as “Дурацкое дело нехитрое”) is officially billed as a black comedy. I don’t quite agree with that genre label: there is very little in it that is genuinely funny, although it all depends on how you view losing loved ones and a string of absurd deaths. Either way, this is nothing like Tarantino-style dark humor, but a much colder northern story.
Theatrical poster for the film “In Order of Disappearance” (Kraftidioten, 2014), directed by Hans Petter Moland
In spirit, it is closer to a crime drama and a slow-burn thriller – you could call it harsh, unadorned real-life prose. If you are in the right thoughtful mood, the picture is definitely worth watching: viewer feedback is mostly positive, holding steady at 7.1 on IMDb and around 6.9–7.0 on Kinopoisk.
Plot: A Quiet Snowplow Driver Against the Drug Mafia
The story unfolds during a snowy Norwegian winter surrounded by endless snowdrifts and mountain passes. The main character, a respectable, soft-spoken Swedish immigrant named Nils Dickman (Stellan Skarsgård), has spent years clearing mountain roads with a massive snowplow and has just been named “Citizen of the Year” in his small town.
His quiet life shatters in a single day: a local drug gang mistakenly murders Nils’s son, staging the scene for the police as an ordinary heroin overdose. After the death of their only child, his marriage begins to fracture, and Dickman himself comes to the brink of suicide. At the very last moment, however, he accidentally learns that his son’s death was a homicide and decides to track down every link in the criminal chain himself – sparking a bloody gang war across the quiet snowbound region.
Stellan Skarsgård as Nils Dickman: an ordinary snowplow driver with nothing left to lose
Despite its quirky localized title in Russian distribution, the film turns out to be instructive in its own way. On screen, the collapse of two rival crime syndicates unfolds step by step: while Nils quietly eliminates low-level henchmen one by one along with a hired hitman nicknamed “The Chinaman,” the eccentric Norwegian drug lord Ole “The Count” Forsby (Pål Sverre Hagen) is simultaneously fighting a custody battle over his son with his ex-wife and mistakenly concludes that a rival Serbian gang led by old-school mob boss “Papa” Popovic (Bruno Ganz) has declared war on him. In the end, everyone involved is caught in the crossfire, and each of the “bad guys” gets what he deserves.
What Makes the Film Memorable and How “Cold Pursuit” (2019) Fits In
The film premiered in the main competition at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014. Several distinctive touches set it apart from formulaic revenge action movies:
- Contrasting performances: Stellan Skarsgård’s stoic protagonist acts without grand speeches, Pål Sverre Hagen’s hysterical vegan gangster “The Count” is unsettling in his unpredictability, and the legendary Bruno Ganz brings gravitas as a patriarchal mob boss of the old school.
- Memorial title cards: after each character dies, a black screen displays their name, nickname, and religious symbol (a cross, Star of David, or others) in the order they exit the stage – which is where the international title In Order of Disappearance comes from.
- 2019 Hollywood remake: five years later, the same director, Hans Petter Moland, shot an English-language version titled “Cold Pursuit” starring Liam Neeson, moving the setting to the mountains of Colorado. Still, audiences and critics generally rate the 2014 Norwegian original noticeably higher for its authentic Scandinavian atmosphere.
What the Film Makes You Think About: Personal Takeaways
Set aside the crime-thriller wrapper, and the movie leaves you with very grounded reflections on life:
- Unpredictability of fate: life is unpredictable – even a decent person can accidentally end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, yet for those who consciously choose crime and deceit, the odds of a bad end are immeasurably higher. It is always wiser to stay far away from shady people and questionable company.
- Responsibility for family: watching the subplot between the drug lord and his ex-wife makes it clear how important it is to choose a life partner thoughtfully, so you don’t end up in bitter divorces fighting over custody – a painful trauma for the parents and an even heavier blow for the child.
- Fragility of life’s meaning: another painful thread in the film is the tragedy of parents who had only one child. When a whole life has been invested in an only son or daughter and an irreparable tragedy strikes, people often have nothing left to hold on to in order to keep living.
“In Order of Disappearance” (Kraftidioten, 2014) is less a comedy than a tight philosophical and family drama set against a snowy Scandinavian winter – a film that watches in one breath and leaves plenty of food for thought.