Solstorm

Although I'm not a religious person myself I was very touched by his film. Yes, I am a stranger to the church and Jesus but I really think that the story proves what can happen when you join any kind of sect or closed community. There is both love and hate, weak minds and strong minds, leaders and followers. Very thought-provoking film this one. Especially the way it dealt with delicate matters like for example the way parents deal with their children and how loyalties between friends can get corrupted over time.

And the film music, not to mentions the hymns altogether add an extra dimension to the tight and sweaty drama that is actually taking place in the most northern part of Sweden. A really beautiful and cold place to be. I think the footage really capture this vast and beautiful landscape.

Amen!

Leif Lindbolm's film is a chilly Nordic thriller, filmed (with striking cinematography) in the far north of Sweden. A religious cult has taken hold of an insular town near the Arctic Circle; a former member, now a successful lawyer, returns home after the death of a priest, initially to help her sister, but she increasingly finds herself involved in the investigation. The atmosphere is tense and claustrophobic, and although (as with most thrillers) the plot is slightly contrived, a tone of realism pervades throughout. Having just seen the Swedish television adaptation of the 'Wallander' novels, I noticed its star, Krister Hendriksson, in a small role here - but whereas those stories are set in a very normal town in southern Sweden, the isolated nature of life in the far north gives 'Solstorm' a very distinctive feeling. Ultimately, it's hard to care too much about the natives, however, who keep their emotions very much to themselves (although the dead man was an interesting exception). But it's still a superior and haunting tale.

Engaging thriller that follows a strict path. Like so many thrillers, this film has a lot to sort out. There are relationships to develop, a character to move from point A to point B, and twists and turns. Scorupco returns to her home town after an old flame is found murdered and her best friend is the prime suspect. The film takes on religion as its main adversary. The victim was a preacher that made millions for the church. We see a close-knit community wanting to keep things simple. No one's to be trusted. The films succeeds in offering a finale that causes you to question the final actions of individual characters. The film has some gorgeous landscapes that it explores. The ice, the snow, the northern lights. All this is captured and creates a cold, isolated, but hypnotic atmosphere. It's a wonderful ending, but the journey there was so generic, it's impossible to rate it any higher.

A beautiful-looking film set in an icy Scandinavian backwater, where most of the men are evil, or weak, and most of the women are good (as in a lot of contemporary Swedish drama.) The lead character (Izabela Scorupco) is a beautiful young tax lawyer, determined to protect her best friend, who's been accused of murder. Scorupco faces the usual steely-eyed religious bigots, and has to untangle familiar murky secrets, but the plot has some good twists, which are parcelled out in a well paced and-structured way. Ms Scorupco is a bit one note, but she's competent. More interesting is the local detective..she's like someone you might meet in a small town, heavily pregnant, and quietly pragmatic. The solution to most of these murder mysteries seems to be always slightly depressing - destruction seems to be the only recourse of those who try to end their own or someone else's misery. You can't make fritatas without breaking eggs, I suppose.

This movie may lack somewhat in how it's performed, but it didn't bother me much. The high vote is for its plot, and now I want to read the book after seeing the movie. What the book may not have though, is the beautiful scenery of northern Sweden.

This is a movie about good and bad. If you think good and bad is difficult before you see the movie, you will hopefully think it is even more difficult after seeing it. If you on the other hand believe that things can only be either good or bad, you will probably not like this movie.

The religious stuff in the movie is pretty far out, and very clear on that point, so I don't think "ordinary" religious people will feel offended by its (mostly) negative portrayal.