179. Wild Men (Vildmænd); movie review

 

WILD MEN (VILDMÆND)

Cert 15

102 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong injury detail, violence, language, drug misuse

Oh, those Scandinavians know how to make movies, don't they?

This is another example of skilfully woven dark humour into poignant modern-day social issues.

Its characters are just wonderfully drawn and it is set to the beautiful backdrop of remote Norway.

Thomas Daneskov's film stars Rasmus Bjerg as a Danish father-of-two whose midlife crisis has led him to lead the life of a solitary Viking in the Norwegian mountains.

He is not especially well-equipped for the task, so instead of hunting down a moose, he goes to the local supermarket without any money and tries to come to a deal over giving him food.

Meanwhile, three drug dealers are in a bad car crash and only one (Zaki Youssef) emerges, limps through the forest and comes across the amateur survivalist.

Inevitably,  a wise but waning widowed police inspector (Bjørn Sundquist) is in charge of the bumbling cops who are chasing both men.

Wild men is amusing rather than laugh-out-loud funny but almost every scene has an unexpected twist or surprising dialogue and keeps the audience engaged throughout.

It also has its moments of violence which leave jaws agape.

But this could not have been achieved without some very high-quality acting.

Bjerg is utterly convincing as a man on the edge, dressed in pelts which his character would have people believe are from hunted animals.

I was also impressed by Sundquist as the quiet cop whose job has filled the hole left by his beloved wife.

It all adds up to one of the best films of 2022 so far.

Reasons to watch: Quirky, compelling and fun

Reasons to avoid: Will be too offbeat for some

Laughs: Chuckles rather than laughs

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 9/10

Did you know? Norway’s expansive wilderness is home to many isolated cabins where you can escape life for a little while and find some peace. The cabins are often far from their nearest neighbour.

The final word. Thomas Daneskov: "I’d been working on a project for a long time that was basically the same film, but without the fur. Then we started seeing a psychiatrist with our screenplay. He’s a professor who’s been researching male midlife crises for 40 years. He opened our eyes to how big this problem actually is. " BFI

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