Petter Borgli Movies

The Norwegian historical crusader Max Manus -- who lived from 1914 to 1996 -- retains household name status among Scandinavians for his acts of daunting courage during the Second World War, but curiously, few non-historians outside of Northern Europe have heard of him. This adventure epic from co-directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg (Bandidas) represents the first mainstream effort to dramatize Manus' efforts in feature form with elaborate re-creations of his heroic exploits. The bulk of the action spans April 9, 1940 through May 8, 1945, or the period of Nazi Germany's Norwegian occupation. Despite an almost complete lack of formal education, Max (Aksel Hennie) grows completely outraged when Norway falls to Germany and permits the presence of an occupying puppet government within two months. In response, Manus bands together with some other indignant Norwegians and promptly forms a resistance outfit known as the "Rognes Organization" -- a group dedicated to collecting weapons, disseminating anti-Nazi propaganda, and exuding a fighting spirit. Later, when Manus is captured by the Germans, he makes not one but two astonishing escapes from the clutches of the Nazis, with his life intact -- demonstrating, hands-down, that he has no fear. Following a period of saboteur training in Scotland, Manus -- incredibly -- slips right back into Norway, and commandeers a mission to sink Nazi supply ships in an Oslo harbor nighttime raid; though successful, it draws nasty acts of vengeance from a psychopathic Gestapo leader Sigfried Fehmer (Ken Duken) -- an event that turns Sigfried and Max into arch enemies with the bitterest hatred for one another. Manus' heroic efforts for the liberation of Norway continue undaunted, however. Thomas Nordseth-Tiller authored the screenplay, reportedly taking a slight degree of liberty with historical facts. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

An ambitious Pakistani immigrant living in Oslo finds his criminal aspirations sidelined by greed in a cautionary look at the criminal lifestyle from director Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen and co-screenwriter Leon Bashir. Wassim (Emil Marwa) is a Muslim immigrant who is quickly growing tired of Oslo. Fed up with the racism and bored by the lack of action in the city, Wassim and best buddies Munawar (Khawar Sadiq) and Riaz (Assad Siddique) determine to take control of their own fate by joining a powerful local gang known as the East Side Crew. Upon impressing East Side Crew leader Saddiq (Daud Mirza), the trio is welcomed into the gang with open arms. Having made a small fortune in drug dealing by the time they hit their twenties, Wassim, Munwar, and Riaz gradually come undone as greed and selfishness eclipse ambition and friendship. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Set in Norway and Scotland, Aberdeen is a road movie that is as concerned with the geography of the heart as that of a topographical map. Kaisa (Lena Headey) is an ambitious lawyer who has just celebrated her recent promotion by having dominant sex with a man whose name she has no interest in learning. When her estranged mother, Helen (Charlotte Rampling), whom she hasn't been in contact with for a decade, calls her up to tell her that she is dying of cancer, Kaisa is faced with her mother's request to track down her divorced husband, Tomas (Stellan Skarsgard). A raging drunk, Tomas has been frequenting the pubs of Norway for a number of years, and Kaisa, after some initial hesitation, sets out for Oslo to find him. When she is finally reunited with Tomas, his drunkenness prevents them from being allowed on the flight back to Aberdeen, where her mother is hospitalized. Kaisa and Tomas embark on an overland journey that takes them across Norway and on a ferry to England, with Tomas drinking constantly and Kaisa discovering something that may be love with a self-effacing truck driver (Ian Hart). ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Carl Jorgen Kionig directed this Norwegian police thriller, winner of the Norwegian Amanda award for the year's best film. Axel Hellstenius' screenplay is adapted from a novel by Norway's justice minister Anne Holt. Lesbian policewoman Hanne Wilhelmsen (Kjersti Elvik), who has a live-in lover, tools about Oslo on her Harley-Davidson. After a number of women vanish, police find blood but no bodies, and Wilhelmsen begins a search for the suspected serial killer. Holt's crime novels are a popular, successful series, providing the source for a TV miniseries, Blind Goddess, also directed by Kionig with the same principal cast seen in this feature. Shown at the 1998 Haugesund Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Norwegian filmmaker Erik Skjoldbjaerg makes his directorial debut with the psychological police drama Insomnia. Swedish homicide detective Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) and his partner, Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal), arrive in a small Northern Norwegian town to help the local police investigate the murder of a teenage girl. When Jonas finds the girl's backpack, he sets a trap for the killer near a remote shed. While waiting to make an ambush in the morning fog, Jonas accidentally shoots Erik. He knows it was only an accident, but he decides to keep it a secret because he could lose his job. Jonas chooses to carry on with his investigation while trying to cover up the evidence of Erik's death. Meanwhile, he's unable to get any sleep due to the constant sunlight of the Norwegian summer and his increasingly guilty conscience. His only help comes from highly intuitive local police officer Hilda Haugen (Gisken Armand), who begins to form her own doubts about Jonas. As he continues to lose his grip on the case at hand, he becomes dangerously close to the suspects, Jon Holt (Bjørn Floberg) and Frøya (Marianne O. Ulrichsen). Filmmaker Christopher Nolan directed the English-language remake of Insomnia in 2002 with Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The lust for gold provides the motivation in this outdoor adventure. Set in turn-of-the-century Nome, Alaska, it centers on the struggle between an Inuit who comes to the area to claim a gold-rich but sacred land tract and a greedy local businessman who wants it for himself. Desperate enough for murder, the businessman sends henchmen to attack the Native American hero, but they fail and he is forced to flee, but not before abducting his enemy's girlfriend and dragging her into the frozen wilderness. As the Indian and his captive forge more deeply into the tundra, a bond begins to form. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Two Norwegian boys come of age in this dark drama with comic and tragic elements. The film is set in the 1960's. Naive Otto Olsen is the 16-year old son of working class parents. He is externally a very quiet boy, but internally something else abides. Otto is on a soccer team, but he is always on the bench. His deeper nature is revealed when a mysterious older boy dares Otto to throw a rock at the referee during a game. A friendship slowly begins between the two young men. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this tragicomic tale, an eleven-year-old boy from Norway struggles to grow up in the face of many daunting obstacles, including smothering parents, school bullies, and the sudden loss of his hair. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This is an exciting thriller about three men who accidentally stumble upon a Russian spy station on "Orion's Belt," a remote segment of the Norwegian island that is their home. Tom (Helge Jordal), Larse (Sverre Anker Ousdal), and Sverre (Hans Ola Sorlie) run a barely profitable business boating tourists around the fjords and showing off the stunning landscapes that are a part of their coastline. But since this business has limited potential, one day the three decide to smuggle out a tractor and sell it for a good return in Greenland. On the way back from that successful venture, a storm hits hard, and they seek shelter on the northern, deserted shore of their island. There they discover the Russian spy station. The three are soon spotted, and though they try to make an escape in their boat, a Russian helicopter nearly shoots it out from under them. Tom's ingenuity devises a way to down the chopper, but soon another looms on the horizon to take its place. Eventually, Tom alone makes his way back home and then is summoned to Oslo for a meeting with the authorities, an encounter that turns out to be very different than expected. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Terje Kristiansen wrote, directed, starred, and produced this run-of-the-mill tragi-comedy about Arne (Kristiansen) a twice-married, once-divorced father of various children who cannot adequately handle anything more serious than a hangnail. He is flummoxed by any real trouble at home or at work, he is out-to-sea in the realm of fatherhood, and he is in the habit of lying to his former wife when she comes around with too many demands. He finally commits an unforgivable act in the eyes of Eva his second wife (Kristiansen's real wife and co-producer, Vibeke Lökkeberg), and she walks out in a huff. That leaves him no alternative but to start a serious reformation project. Director Kristiansen might have been better served with a shorter film, and viewers should be advised that sexual encounters between Eva and Arne, real-life husband and wife, might require parental censorship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi