This version of "Insomnia" is a Norwegian movie which the 2002 American made film, same name, starring Robin Williams and Al Pacino is based on. This particular movie, starring Stellan Skarsgard, is quite good, but it is different than the American version in a few but important areas. The American public would have never of approved of some things which happen or are implied in the Norwegian movie. I like this movie just as much as the American counterpart, but it does have a few more wholes in it than the newer version.

The story starts off the same, a young school girl is beaten to death and is left dead in a garbage dump. The setting is in the extreme north of Norway, above the Artic Circle, so there is 24 hours of daylight. A Swedish detective, Jonas, played by Stellan Skarsgard (King Arthur), in Oslo is sent up to the great white north with his partner to help solve the crime. During the hunt for the suspect, Jonas accidentally kills his partner. The suspect witnesses the shooting and attempts to blackmail the detective so he can get away with killing the girl.

Main differences between the two movies are, in this version, the suspect actually has sex with the 17 year old girl and the two detectives are not facing an Internal Affairs investigation back home. Jonas just happened to be sleeping with a suspect in a major criminal investigation. During the course of the movie, Jonas also has his hand up the skirt of the victim's best friend, who is also 17; minor differences but in major ways.

I liked the movie, and I wish I had seen this version first instead of the American version. If you have seen the American version, you should go ahead and see this version, because it shows how much censorship there is here in the USA.

Brian - the Naked Gun