Insomnia is a fantastic murder mystery...but an even better character study

Rating: 8/10 (12 September 2007)

***1/2 out of **** stars
Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) is already exhausted when he flies into Nightmute, an Alaskan hamlet that never loses its sun. An Internal Affairs investigation back in Los Angeles may destroy his career. He has played war with ethics for many years, and he's stressed and bitter because of it. His partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) wants to "cut a deal" with IA. The reason? He doesn't want to jeopardize his family's future. Dormer doesn't like Eckhart's decision, obviously. We get the impression their partnership has been strained for some time. To say the least, there are many things weighing heavily on Dormer...it gets worse.
Why are they in Nightmute? There was a murder of a teenage girl. Dormer and Eckhart are there to head the investigation. The local detectives regularly follow up on bar brawls and domestic disturbances, but a murder probe is a bit too ambitious for them. Nightmute's Detective Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank) sees Dormer as an idol and a legend. She's motivated, new and untainted. She likens the investigation to something she can happily learn from, like a school project, and what a splendid mentor she has in Dormer!...if she only knew.
So who's the killer? It's a novelist named Walter Finch (Robin Williams) who had befriended the teen at one of his book signings. She shamed him, and he murdered her...but there's more. Dormer shoots and kills Eckhart (accedentally?) while chasing Finch through the dense fog. Dormer instantaneously pins the shooting on Finch, but there's one problem: Finch saw him do it. So now, Dormer's caught in a Catch 22: if he captures Finch he captures himself.
What's great about this film is Pacino's ability to make us like Dormer through all his deceit. We feel sorry for him because he knows how far he has crossed the line and he hates himself for it. Finch is another story. He views his horrible crime as an accident that could happen to anybody. Pacino, the great method actor, and Williams, the erratic improviser, complement each other wonderfully because they play characters that are polar-opposite.
Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins) loves the use of close-ups and flashbacks. Often we see a flashback of Dormer scrubbing blood off his shirt from another immoral probe; a metaphor of his desire to become clean of dishonor. There are flashes of the murdered girl giggling at her mentor: the innocent and prudish incitement of bloodshed. There are many close-ups of Pacino wrinkled, haggard and exhausted. Nolan obviously felt it necessary to physically exploit the mania in Dormer's mind and soul. This is Shakespearean in tactic: the physical manifestation of inner torment.
Two scenes from Insomnia are particularly memorable for me. One is when Dormer is driving the victim's best girlfriend to the site where the body was found: a trash dump. Some shocking coquetry takes place, which makes us wonder how shameless the detective really is. In the end, though, he only wishes to teach her a needed lesson in humility, and we're relieved. The other scene is of Dormer driving alone on the wet, Alaskan highway. Awake for days, his overworked, debilitated mind makes him think an 18-wheeler is about to crash into him. He slams on the brakes only to find nothing is there. Nolan pulls this scene off with great, awaking intensity. The vast, overhead shots of the vehicle and the close-ups of the interior windshield are brilliant.
Swank's performance is a tad more than one-dimensional, but I believe her role was written for that purpose. She's a very talented actor who has played characters with much more depth and scope (Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby). Here, she simply embodies what Dormer perhaps once was many, many moons ago: a young, gung-ho detective wearing a halo of integrity.
I'll keep looking out for more work from Nolan. He has proved, so far, to be something of an auteur. Insomnia is his finest film to date. The casting of Pacino and Williams doesn't hurt things either, especially when the roles are so right for them.