Pyromaniac

This movie starts out slow, is kind of a "draggy" movie and the dialogue translations are a little off sometimes, but I found this movie EXTREMELY satisfying to watch.

Dag and I have a whole lot in common. I am also a pyromaniac, just diagnosed not long ago. The depiction of his emotions/feelings when starting a fire are pretty spot on, and his face in that last fire scene was pretty damn accurate too. Helpless and aware that he can't help what he is. That is exactly how you feel...the urges are unavoidable and hard to resist.

I love this movie so much. I am going to go watch it again, even though it is 1:00 in the morning.

Pyromaniac follows a young man as he quietly wreaks havoc in his small Norwegian town. We spend the entire film with Ingemann, observing his life and his destructive habits. However, Ingemann's motivations are enigmatic. We are left to reach our own conclusions as to why Ingemann enjoys his incendiary hobby.

We are given an insight into the character's frustration. He is the fireman's son but receives very little attention in the community. His school friends no longer engage with him and most of the adults struggle to remember his name. Few opportunities to interact are presented in the sparsely populated setting. But when a fire breaks out the community is drawn together. A crowd quickly gathers and everyone participates in extinguishing the fire and rescuing as much of the victims property as possible. Crucially Ingremann himself transforms. He becomes competent and confident as undertakes his duties. Ingremann seems to show genuine compassion for the victims of his predilection.

Actor Per Frisch delivers a wonderfully magnetic performance as Ingremann, managing to embody the awkwardness of the character as well as the menace. As his fires grow in scope he becomes more bold and frightening to behold, all the while maintaining pathos.

The fires in the film are alternately terrifying and incidental. Director Erik Skjoldbjærg films ignition like an action movie utilising slow motion and rich sound design to make the audience feel the destructive power. Yet often the resulting fire is framed in the background of scenes, recalling Tarkovsky's set piece barn fire in The Sacrifice. There is of course one notable exception in which an elderly couple escape the house, a scene that is as tense as it is impressive.

The effect is that the fire loses its dramatic allure once it has been lit and any civilians have safely evacuated. The sense of urgency and danger gives way to one of melancholia. The fire becomes a passive devourer that roars in the distance and seems unaffected by the communities attempts to extinguish it.

One of the more striking engaging aspects of the film is Ingremann's relationship with his mother. Quiet scenes of domesticity establish the gentle fondness between the two characters which becomes heart-breaking as Ingremann's actions strike closer and closer to home. Some of the most emotional scenes of the film come from this relationship.

Not everyone will be engaged by Pyromaniac. The pace is slow, the characters are understated and the sense of peril is deliberately undercut with dark humour. However for those able to appreciate such things, the film is a frightening and arresting experience.

The actual crimes upon which this story is based received quite some press in an otherwise sedate Norwegian society in 1978, and so did Gaute Heivoll's 2010 novel "Før jeg brenner ned" (translated into English as "Before I Burn") in which Heivoll weaves his own autobiographical elements in with the fires set by the title character of this film. Erik Skjoldbjærg's screen version, however, is a disappointingly stale rendition in which nothing seems to move except Dag's flames. Skjoldbjærg sets the tone well, but doesn't seem to know how or be willing to get underneath the characters' skin - least of all Dag, who remains little more than an agent for the plot. There's also not much in the way of dialogue here; the characters act and speak in a manner which feels like a throwback not to the Norwegian way of life in the 1970s, but to the Norwegian film style of the 1970s, which is not exactly a compliment. And Trond Nilssen, who was so good in Kongen av Bastøy, never quite comes to life in the title role.

I was surprised to never had heard of this movie before. And i wish i had not wasted time with it... Its just a drama and not exciting at all. All about mental issues. Still production quality is ok and supporting actors do a fine job. Barely managed to finish it.

This is a slow moving film, more interested in the character and his position within the small village, than it is in the actual fires themselves. Don't expect a lot of dramatic sequences.

The character that this movie follows is quite interesting. Understanding a pyromaniac is difficult, and I'm sure every case is different. The way this story is presented, you can understand (on some level) what motivates him to do what he does. Some of the best sequences in the film are of him interacting with other locals, where you can feel the tension in him. There's also a few tragic moments, where you can see how he is struggling to find his place in the small village.

For some reason, the director chooses to downplay the possible tension inherit in this movie. I think I like what he is doing, but I can also imagine someone else making a movie that is just as interesting as a character portrait, but doesn't feel as slow.

As a Norwegian, I also have to comment on the weird mix of dialects this movie got going on. It kind of breaks the realism of this being a village from the south of Norway. Oh well.