The psychological thriller, “The Innocents” (De uskyldige) won plaudits and praise at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Yet this dark and disturbing drama is more than just kid’s play.
A dark and disturbing psychological thriller
Whether humans are born genuinely “good” or “evil” has been a source of inspiration, and discussion for ancient philosophers, renaissance painters, and modern-day psychologists and psychiatrists. In strictly biological terms, there is, of course, the age-old debate about “nature versus nurture” – that is whether genetics or the environment plays a larger factor in fate. This concept is smartly dealt with in Eskil Vogt’s latest film, “The Innocents” (De uskyldige).
Fresh from his success with Joachim Trier co-writing The Worst Person in The World, Eskil Vogt has delivered another solid offering in the recent bloom of Norwegian films. “The Innocents” centers around, as NRK’s film critic Birger Vestmo puts it, “the notion that no child is born with bad tendencies and questions whether everyone can have an inherent evil in them…” Given that the subject of the film has such a deep and philosophical underpinning, the movie itself is a smart, suspenseful, and, at times, terrifying psychological thriller.
Child’s play can be dangerous
The film centers on two young girls: Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum) and her older sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad) who have moved to a less “glamorous” apartment complex on the outskirts of Oslo along with their Mother (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Father (Morten Svartveit).
Like all children can do with ease, both Ida and Anna make new friends. Ida befriends Ben (Sam Ashraf) whilst Anna’s autism doesn’t stop her from forging a very close new friendship with Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim).
What begins as innocent children playing soon develops into something dark, mysterious, and dangerous in the woods and playgrounds nearby. What heightens tension is the bond between the children which adults both cannot see and cannot fully comprehend.
Without giving too much away, the film develops an uneasy and uncomfortable tone that will make you feel claustrophobic with tension by the end. The climax is, like all great movies, nothing that one expected and dealt with in not your typical “Hollywood” fashion.
Great acting from a young cast
What is most pleasing about this movie is the fact that the children are not professional actors. The fact that Vogt managed to squeeze a substantial amount of acting talent out of these kids is as impressive as the honest, direct, and solid performance that each child gives.
It is also good to see Vogt show another side of Oslo, away from the stunningly cinematic snapshot that was The Worst Person in The World. Here, in the “ghetto” of Oslo, the buildings, the apartment complex, the nearby woods all bristle with a quiet menace and haunting edginess.
This is exactly the kind of film that you would want to, you know, get off your couch and actually visit a cinema. You do remember that place, right?
Verdict: A taut and edgy psychological thriller at its best with an outstanding young cast.
Score: 4 “creepy Etch a Sketches” out of 6.
Source: #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayTravel
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