Why would anyone want to remake an already excellent film?

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2002)

**** WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!! ****
If you ever read or heard any interviews with film directors, you might've noticed that they often get asked the question, "If you could direct one movie that's already been made, what would it be?", hoping that the directors would answer something along the lines of Hitchcock's "Vertigo" or Bergman's "Seventh Seal." I'm sure Christopher Nolan probably would've answered "Erik Skjoldbjaerg's 'Insomnia'". The problem is that Nolan took the question literally. Instead of admiring Skjoldbjaerg's film, he attempted to make it again.
What happened to the great director of "Memento"? Did he really sell his soul to the Hollywood machine? Fans and critics would certainly hope otherwise, but unfortunately, from watching Nolan's "Insomnia" it seems like the British filmmaking prodigy has gone completely mainstream.
Nolan's "Insomnia" is a heavily Americanized version of Skjoldbjaerg's femomenal Norwegian film. And when I say "Americanized", I'm not just talking about the movie taking place in Alaska. Oh no, I'm talking about all the melodrama and glitter of Hollywood movies that are so difficult to avoid on the big screen nowadays. Subplots are introduced to "spice up" the story, relationships between characters are changed, all the original subtlety is gone, and the two principal characters lack all original depth and are pigeonholed into the Hollywood "good guy - bad guy" scheme.
In the original "Insomnia", the cop character (his name was Jonas Engstrom but I will refer to him as "the cop", to avoid confusion) was a Swedish detective who was sent to northern Norway to investigate a murder. Through an overheard conversation, we find out that back in Stockholm he got intimately involved with a young witness from a case he was working on. So his assignment in Norway was a sort of "punishment". In the movie, this is mentioned only once and never again. In the American version, a whole subplot about Internal Affairs investigations is introduced and it has a great affect on the relationships in the movie. In the original film, the cop and his partner are great friends. In the remake, there is a hostility between them because of the whole Internal Affairs investigation going on back in Los Angeles. So in the original movie when the cop shoots his partner accidentally, it is primarily the guilt of shooting his friend that he has to deal with.
Another aspect that is completely downplayed in Nolan's version is the cop's sense of alienation in a foreign land. In the original, the cop is a Swede. He is perceived as a foreigner and an outsider throughout his entire investigation. He is never accepted; in fact, he is often ridiculed for his accent by both cops and civilians. In Nolan's film, the cop is quickly accepted by the locals. We see them chatting away about guns, drinking beer together, and at the end we get the feeling like they're almost sad to see him go.
Nolan gave Hilary Swank much more screen time then her character had in the original. In Skjoldbjaerg's "Insomnia", the female cop merely investigates the second murder, but never interferes with the original investigation. Yes, she does figure out that the cop shot his partner, but she doesn't do anything about it. In the American version, we see her trying to arrest the real murderer, only to be incapacitated by him - and then Al Pacino, of course, has to come to the rescue.
And finally, the biggest difference between the two movies is that the character of the cop (Will Dormer/Jonas Engstrom) has been completely polished up in the American remake. In the remake, Al Pacino plays a good cop who uses some illegal methods to bring bad guys to justice (planting evidence and such). But hey, as long as he's reeling in bad guys, it's all good, right? :) He doesn't believe in political mumbo-jumbo, he only wants to do his job right. When a local teenage girl (and best friend of the murdered girl) tries to seduce him, he wisely avoids it and instead teaches her a lesson. He despises the murderer and he tries to prevent the murderer from framing an innocent kid. In the end, he dies like a hero, killing the bad guy and saving Hillary Swank's integrity. Damn. That's one good cop!
Now let's take a look at Stellan Skarsgard's interpretation of the cop character. We find out early he's already been in trouble for being unable to cross a line between his work and his private life. When he shoots his friend accidentaly, he panics and covers up his crime, but he never considers telling the truth. His only concern is his own job - he has no other motives. Remember that scene in the American version where Al Pacino shoots a dead dog in an alley? Well, Stellan Skarsgard shoots a live dog! Take that, ASPCA! Furthermore, he frames the innocent young man himself, without any assistance from the real murderer. He tries to take advantage of a young girl in his car. When talks to the murderer, we don't get the feeling that he despises him. No, we get the feeling that he understands him. And finally, in the end, he does kill the real murderer, but he doesn't die himself. His own crime is covered up and he returns to Sweden. He is a cop with many flaws. And as such, he makes a much stronger character. The point of Skjoldbjaerg's movie was to erase the line between cop and criminal. There's no good guy and bad guy in his movie. It's a psychological thriller, where the suspense isn't derived from chase sequences across timber logs, but from the complexity of the main character.
These are such fundamental differences between the two versions. If you change the characters, change the relationships and change the outcome, you've pretty much created a completely different movie. And as good as Nolan's movie is as a standalone project, as a remake it utterly fails because it takes away from the original all the qualities that made it such a great film. It is unfortunate for Nolan that he has wasted his time remaking an already great film. If this was his way of proving his skills, it was completely unnecessary. We already knew that he was a talented director. But hopefully this movie will get Nolan the money and the attention that he needs in order to create a truly excellent and ORIGINAL movie - one that we can all appreciate on its own.
See Erik Skjoldbjaerg's "Insomnia". See Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia". They're both fine films, but Skjoldbjaerg's film definitely has the edge - there's no doubt about it.
P.S. Did I get that right, or did Al Pacino's character really not sleep for 6 days straight? Isn't that humanly impossible? In the original movie, I'm pretty sure Stellan Skarsgard gets some sleep occasionally. He is chronically tired, that's true, but he's not a walking zombie. Nolan, as a writer himself, must know all about insomnia, as I'm sure he's had quite a few insomniac nights himself. But he should also equally well know that after 24 hours without sleep, fatigue will catch up with anyone, regardless of the amount of light coming into your room or the number of cops you've accidentally killed.