Afraid of the light

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2013)

Al Pacino stars in a film that features sleeplessness as a central motif. It is perfect casting. Pacino doesn't just look tired in this movie, he looks positively whacked. But he stays awake long enough to bring to life a sharply written thriller with some unexpected twists.
"Insomnia" is based on a Norwegian film of the same name. The Hollywood version, directed by Christopher Nolan, relocates the story from Norway to Alaska. It is not a scene for scene remake although the basic story and a number of key scenes are retained.
Legendary homicide detective, Will Dormer, Pacino's character, arrives in a small Alaskan town. He is accompanied by his partner, Detective Hap Eckhart, played by Martin Donovan. They have come to investigate the murder of a young girl. The local police and a young patrolwoman, Ellie Burr, greet them. The enthusiastic Ellie, played by Hilary Swank, is aware of Dormer's fame.
Swank's character is pivotal as she realises that all is not as it should be with Pacino's character. The detectives are under investigation by internal affairs, and have come to Alaska to try to work through their problems. Dormer is troubled by the perpetual daylight of the northern latitudes. Swedish actor, Jonas Engström, played Pacino's role in the Norwegian version – but Pacino looks the tiredest!
Together, the local cops and their LA counterparts investigate the crime, and a number of people come under suspicion including Walter Finch, the character played by Robin Williams.
Prior to this, Robin Williams had been in some particularly cloying movie roles. However, he changed his image by playing a number of edgy and psychotic characters. Williams quickly makes the role of Finch his own and any lingering identification with the Robin Williams from "Patch Adams" serves only to create a genuinely unsettling character.
The US version gives more of a back-story to Pacino's character and his relationship with Detective Eckhart. This gives some explanation as to why Dormer does what he does. Ellie Burr's character is also more developed than the role played by Tanja Lorentzen in the Norwegian version; Swank is far more engaging.
One scene that has more edge in the Norwegian film involves a dog in a crucial piece of evidence tampering – the Norwegian version is wince-inducing to say the least.
Chris Nolan's team had the earlier movie as their starting point and could easily see where the story could be strengthened. However, Hollywood remakes of European films often fail to measure up, take "The Vanishing" for example; the ending in the U.S. version is a cop-out compared to the Dutch version.
The US version of "Insomnia" also stumbles at the final hurdle, opting for a more predictable ending than the ambiguous one of the Norwegian film. The Norwegian version is also able to claim the artistic high ground as the totally original work.