Is it the harsh, wintry climate that makes Norwegian small town people as callous as this film wants us to believe they are? I was wondering this at the beginning of Karin Julsrud's debut when we get to know the carefree and violent attitude of some of the younger citizens of the town. This is more and more obvious as the story unfolds: a detective from Oslo, sent in to help solve two connected murders, is first humiliated, then beaten without anyone lifting a finger to stop it. What bothered me was the pointlessness of it all. If one man can't defy a whole town, send in the troops, all right? But this film isn't about logic. The central theme is that of the young boy who is repeatedly being victimized. His continually changing relationship with the stranger -from curiously friendly to defiant and uncaring- is the main strength of the story. Unfortunately, it can not save the rambling nature of the script. It never seems to go anywhere and leaves one wondering what the film is actually supposed to be about. One mustn't be too severe, though. Many scenes are very powerful and I liked the moments of wry humor intermingled in the drama. What we have here, then, is a compelling but not entirely satisfying psychological thriller and another director to look out for.
12 Reviews
Thought provoking but ultimately unsuccessful
susansweb16 November 2004
The film follows the traditional storyline: big city detective Nicholas Ramm in a small town, trying to solve a horrendous crime, dealing with the townspeople who want to take care of the problem themselves. Vigilante justice is explored in detail and it is obvious what side the filmmaker, Karin Julsrud, is on. It was easy for me to side with Julsrud's outrage. I was a bit worried with the red herrings coming true, making the film a little too convenient but thankfully they didn't. When the twist comes, it is unexpected but (and this is a big but), I think Julsrud paints herself in a corner. Ramm's actions at this point are a little out of character and seem to be more of a way to clean things up. In this day of extensive media coverage of awful crimes, emotions are often manipulated and I thank this movie for making me more aware of how easy this is but as a film, I can't say it was a success.
Dark, Disturbing, Very Well-Made Film
Craig-98 May 2003
I watched this very powerful Norwegian thriller on Encore's Mystery channel last night. I'd never heard of this before, but looking it up on the IMDB, I see it was made in 1998.
It follows the story of a police investigator who comes from Oslo to a small town in the Norwegian countryside to investigate a pair of related murders: a young girl with Down's syndrome and one of a pair of local men believed to have been involved in raping and murdering her. Wherever the poor detective goes, he meets with angry, sullen, and secretive townspeople--in fact, a bartender suggests that maybe the whole town was in on the murder and what will the investigator do if he discovers this is the truth?
During the course of investigating, the policeman befriends the young brother of the murdered man and tries to keep him from being abused by the locals, who kidnap and mutilate his father in a gruesome way, and who are on the lookout for another brother, believed to be the second perpetrator in the rape/murder. At one point, the policeman gets beaten up by a group of locals, including one man he recognizes, who tells him, "I was never here, and I've got at least 20 witnesses who will testify to that fact." It all moves to a rather startling conclusion, as we find out who the killers really were and the third brother finally stands up to his bulliers.
This was a very dark and disturbing and well-made film. If you're in the right mood and don't mind subtitles, you might like it. But it isn't all gloom and doom: a comic highlight: the visiting detective asks one of the glum-faced local police, a woman, if she ever smiles.
She says, "When something's funny."
"What's funny?" he asks.
"Cosby," she answers, and gives him this little half-smile/grimace, which, in the scheme of things, is laugh-out-loud funny.
It follows the story of a police investigator who comes from Oslo to a small town in the Norwegian countryside to investigate a pair of related murders: a young girl with Down's syndrome and one of a pair of local men believed to have been involved in raping and murdering her. Wherever the poor detective goes, he meets with angry, sullen, and secretive townspeople--in fact, a bartender suggests that maybe the whole town was in on the murder and what will the investigator do if he discovers this is the truth?
During the course of investigating, the policeman befriends the young brother of the murdered man and tries to keep him from being abused by the locals, who kidnap and mutilate his father in a gruesome way, and who are on the lookout for another brother, believed to be the second perpetrator in the rape/murder. At one point, the policeman gets beaten up by a group of locals, including one man he recognizes, who tells him, "I was never here, and I've got at least 20 witnesses who will testify to that fact." It all moves to a rather startling conclusion, as we find out who the killers really were and the third brother finally stands up to his bulliers.
This was a very dark and disturbing and well-made film. If you're in the right mood and don't mind subtitles, you might like it. But it isn't all gloom and doom: a comic highlight: the visiting detective asks one of the glum-faced local police, a woman, if she ever smiles.
She says, "When something's funny."
"What's funny?" he asks.
"Cosby," she answers, and gives him this little half-smile/grimace, which, in the scheme of things, is laugh-out-loud funny.
Annoyingly clever
erniemunger19 January 2006
A Norwegian mystery thriller that tries hard, very hard, to be clever. Nicholas Ramm (Reidar Sorensen) is a cynical city cop dispatched to an end-of-the-world province to solve a double murder. He is confronted with the Nordic version of omerta and must learn that the whole hicktown has conspired against him. Though on the outset, it seems like it has many ingredients going for it, 1732 Hotten was recklessly turned into a grade-A stinker by a bunch of taut overachievers. For one, everyone in the film, right down to the faintest supporting act, is a confirmed and heavily overdrawn nutcase, which despite the partly good acting becomes unbearable after just ten seconds. The music score, a poor man's Tom Waits (is that a pleonasm?) imitation, is the most annoying single piece of dreck ever to come out of a synthesizer; worse, it mostly kicks in for no reason other than making you beg your ears fell off. The same goes for the camera work, which is hardly ever purpose-driven and instead veers off into some of the most complacent film academy mannerisms to-date. The transitions, takes, and cuts are so deliberately arty that it hurts a blind man's eye, while the few physical action scenes look downright ridiculous. The fundamental problem with this film is that there's too much of everything: too much madness, too much bigotry, too much mystery, too much cynicism... And just when you think you're finally over it, this silly little cockroach of a film turns into a hideous monster, topping all the incoherences it's been churning out by staging one of cinema's most infuriatingly deceptive ends. I do sympathize with the Norwegian fraction that has expressed its anger on this site. Not that you'd necessarily expect a naturalist depiction of rural Norway but even if your option is atmosphere, there has got to be some credibility. Excentricity has to be authentic, too. Director Karin Julsrud should burn all her Lynch and Coen tapes and go fishing.
Unrealistic
Jabla8 April 2000
I couldn't believe my eyes, when I saw this movie. How could the producers at Norsk Film let this script come through and support it financially?? It beats me. No such place excists in Norway. The scriptwriter must have seen too many American films. The plot sucked, we never get to know anything really. Some of the actors does their job, but I just can't understand that so many of the finest actors in Norway are in this motion picture.
It's completely unrealistic, the carachters are non-believeable and Høtten is not a kind of place one might find in Norway, or any other place. This film has turkey written all over it. The reason why this has done quite good at some festivals abraod is simply because people outside of Norway just don't see how unrealistic this film is!!
It's completely unrealistic, the carachters are non-believeable and Høtten is not a kind of place one might find in Norway, or any other place. This film has turkey written all over it. The reason why this has done quite good at some festivals abraod is simply because people outside of Norway just don't see how unrealistic this film is!!
Very intense
lje3267729 May 2003
This was actually the first Norweigan film I have ever seen, but I read the blurb under it's title and it sounded interesting. It was very interesting. It's the story of an Oslo cop, Nicholas Ramm(Reidar Sorenson) who goes to a town and is met with extreme resistence from the towns people when he tries to solve the murder of two people. The first, a young, Downs Syndrome child who had been brutally raped and murdered and a grown man found in a river. I felt his frustration as he tried to work through this resistance of the people to solve the murders and his friendship with a little boy that everyone picked on. It was a dark movie about how violence can lead to violence and how a group of people can band together to convict a person before a trial and take it out on his family. In the end, the towns people were right, but their vigilantism was wrong and led to the death of one more young person.
The movie was very easy to follow even though it was in Norwegian with English subtitles. I do recommend this movie, but I caution people too. There was very little overt violence in the movie. The majority of the film was intense verbal fighting between Ramm and the towns people as he met with their resistence. Though there is one scene that I would seriously caution the viewer on. Ramm finds a video cassette with the rape and murder of the child on it and watches it. Sorenson brought Ramm to tears as he watched it. It brought me to tears as well.
The movie was very easy to follow even though it was in Norwegian with English subtitles. I do recommend this movie, but I caution people too. There was very little overt violence in the movie. The majority of the film was intense verbal fighting between Ramm and the towns people as he met with their resistence. Though there is one scene that I would seriously caution the viewer on. Ramm finds a video cassette with the rape and murder of the child on it and watches it. Sorenson brought Ramm to tears as he watched it. It brought me to tears as well.
It's disturbing and tragic, but worth the watch.
bronco4x429 January 2004
Not much I can say. I agree that this is probably not exactly realistic especially it being taken place in a small town in a peaceful country like Norway. However, we all should know, its ONLY A MOVIE. It has a tragic and sad story to it, and not only that, some disturbing scenes. However, overall, this is still a great thriller that is worth a watch! It was put together quite well. I'm quite shocked after watching the film, yet also impressed.
9/10
9/10
Angels Without Mercy
Nodriesrespect28 September 2007
Clearly the Norwegian jury doesn't agree (read the other comments) but I think this Scandinavian take on David Lynch's TWIN PEAKS (hey, that's what they're marketing it as, so call me lazy, see if I care !) is one of the more startling cinematic experiences to come along in many a year. First time director Karin Julsrud didn't intend her fable of how violence can only breed more of the same to be taken as a documentary but as the idiosyncratic mix of drama, comedy and horror which led publicists to make the comparison in the first place. Unlike Lynch however, Julsrud doesn't let the viewers off the hook at film's end with a far-fetched supernatural conclusion but forces them to confront their own dark side by making some of the violent outbursts her film suggests (but rarely shows) seem 'righteous' at first, though that doesn't stop them from poisoning the close-knit society they sprang from. Opening with an atonal rendition of 'When the Saints Come Marching In', this spellbinding thriller charts the investigation led by big city cop Nicholas Ramm into the small town murders of a mentally retarded girl and one of the alleged perpetrators of that crime. To reveal more would take away much of the film's pleasures as well as shocks. Progressing thoughtfully, Julsrud has enlivened her narrative with such a wealth of telling details that you may need to see this one more than once. I for one welcome that prospect.
Good movie, but real gray
marbleann8 June 2004
Warning: Spoilers
I really was taken by this film. I don't know why. I loved it. I was perusing the TV guide and I saw it said well any Norwegian movie is better then half the junk Hollywood is putting out. First off I must say I like the way the sub titles looked. You could actually see them without straining your eyes. Why aren't all like that? Second it is funny how some Norwegian sounds like English. SPOILERS AHEAD!! I liked the poor detective that was brought in from the big city..Oslo. Which is sure to give the local town people and cops upset. People mentioned this was like a David Lynch film. I don't see it that way. This movie was straight out easy to follow. Lynch movies always have something underneath. This movie to me is a carbon copy of some movie I saw years ago on TV when all the people in this New England town were killing young girls because of a sacrifice. They acted the same way the folks in Hotten acted. All these type of flicks have some type of church or cult involved. I don't think this movie is so far removed from reality. Granted I have no idea what little towns in Norway look like. But I will gather they look like most little towns anywhere in the world. Very close knit in their actions and they circle the wagons when something is wrong. The local cops obviously were not doing their job..why get he big gun from Oslo if they were. The man almost gets half killed and not one cop helps out. Same reason little town USA gets the big guns from NYC if they can't solve a crime. It happened to my dad he was sent to Georgia. I live in a place where the winters can be harsh and after a while everything in the town looks grundgy gray because if the snow doesn't melt it gets dirty and it makes even the nicest places look depressed. To me Hotten looked just like that. Snow that just will not go away. The ending was a shocker to some people it was not to me but it was a good ending. The idea that a Tape existed was the kicker. The acting was really good. The actor who played Dwayne was excellent.
Dark, tragic, honest
sjurh29 March 2003
1732 Høtten (Bloody Angels) is not a typical norwegian movie but it has received typically norwegian criticism. There seems to be a trend in Norway to call norwegian films you don't like "typically Norwegian". But I tell you, this film is nothing to be ashamed of!
Not many films from both Norway and abroad will be able to give you shivers like this, hardly any film of this genre gets stuck to your mind. It makes you annoyed, it makes you sick, it makes you depraved and finally, at the end, in a sick and twisted way - you get your revenge. But the film has weaknesses, and the most annoying is the script. It could have been so much better so it won't receive a top rating from me. But go rent it today!
Not many films from both Norway and abroad will be able to give you shivers like this, hardly any film of this genre gets stuck to your mind. It makes you annoyed, it makes you sick, it makes you depraved and finally, at the end, in a sick and twisted way - you get your revenge. But the film has weaknesses, and the most annoying is the script. It could have been so much better so it won't receive a top rating from me. But go rent it today!
Angles with blood on their hands
sol-kay18 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
***MAJOR SPOILERS*** With the local Hotten police unable to make any headway in the brutal rape and murder of 14 year old Katarina Munch Olso's top murder investigator Detective Nicholas Ramm is sent to the quite and out of the way Norwegian town to crack the case.
It doesn't take long for Ramm to uncover that the Hartmann Brothers Finken & Baste are the prime suspects in Katarina murder but they just disappeared into thin air after her body was discovered! With the town outraged at what happened to little Katarina the boys in school have been mercilessly taunting little Niklas Hartmann who's two brothers are on the lamb as suspects in their involvement in her murder. The taunting gets even more vicious when Niklas'brother Finken is later found frozen in a local pound obviously murdered by a gang of vigilantes, knows as the Angles, in revenge! This with Finken not having a chance to stand trail for his alleged crime.
Ramm a strong upholder of the law is constituently being harassed and even at one point attacked and brutally beaten, by the Angles, in trying to bring the remaining suspect in Katarina's murder Baste Hartmann to justice. Going against the grain, in not being wanted in Hotten, Ramm keep up his investigation that eventually leads the remaining Hartmann Brother Baste to give himself up to the Hotten Police just to keep from being lynched by the vigilante Angles!
It's later on when the brother's father Raymond is kidnapped and savagely beaten up by the Angles that Ramm is just about to call it quits and go back home to Oslo knowing that he'll never get any cooperation from the people and may possibly end up as the gang of Angles next victim.
***SPOILERS*** With the case as cold as a Norwegian Winter Ramm gets what he needs, proof of the Hartmann's involvement in Katarina's murder, from a totally unexpected source. The proof, a video-tape, that unexpectedly Ramm receives is so shocking and disturbing that he a man sworn to uphold the law forgets what his job is and becomes as violent and murderous as any of the Angles that he's out to stop. What's even far more disturbing is that little Niklas whom Ramm has been trying to help overcome his violent hatred of those, his school-mates, who've been making his life a living hell since Katarina's murder now has a reason, in what Ramm did, to settle the score with them!
P.S The film Bloody Angles shows how even the most respectable and law abiding among us can go off the deep end when were confronted with something that's so horrible that we forget were living in a civilized society. That's what Detetive Ramm found out the hard way after some 20 years in his preaching, like to Niklas, and upholding the law.
It doesn't take long for Ramm to uncover that the Hartmann Brothers Finken & Baste are the prime suspects in Katarina murder but they just disappeared into thin air after her body was discovered! With the town outraged at what happened to little Katarina the boys in school have been mercilessly taunting little Niklas Hartmann who's two brothers are on the lamb as suspects in their involvement in her murder. The taunting gets even more vicious when Niklas'brother Finken is later found frozen in a local pound obviously murdered by a gang of vigilantes, knows as the Angles, in revenge! This with Finken not having a chance to stand trail for his alleged crime.
Ramm a strong upholder of the law is constituently being harassed and even at one point attacked and brutally beaten, by the Angles, in trying to bring the remaining suspect in Katarina's murder Baste Hartmann to justice. Going against the grain, in not being wanted in Hotten, Ramm keep up his investigation that eventually leads the remaining Hartmann Brother Baste to give himself up to the Hotten Police just to keep from being lynched by the vigilante Angles!
It's later on when the brother's father Raymond is kidnapped and savagely beaten up by the Angles that Ramm is just about to call it quits and go back home to Oslo knowing that he'll never get any cooperation from the people and may possibly end up as the gang of Angles next victim.
***SPOILERS*** With the case as cold as a Norwegian Winter Ramm gets what he needs, proof of the Hartmann's involvement in Katarina's murder, from a totally unexpected source. The proof, a video-tape, that unexpectedly Ramm receives is so shocking and disturbing that he a man sworn to uphold the law forgets what his job is and becomes as violent and murderous as any of the Angles that he's out to stop. What's even far more disturbing is that little Niklas whom Ramm has been trying to help overcome his violent hatred of those, his school-mates, who've been making his life a living hell since Katarina's murder now has a reason, in what Ramm did, to settle the score with them!
P.S The film Bloody Angles shows how even the most respectable and law abiding among us can go off the deep end when were confronted with something that's so horrible that we forget were living in a civilized society. That's what Detetive Ramm found out the hard way after some 20 years in his preaching, like to Niklas, and upholding the law.
Expectations and disappointment..
Silje25 November 2000
I had some expectations to this movie, and at least I hoped it would live up to one or two of them. But it didn't. It's an all so typical Norwegian film that I'm ashamed. I must say, the only Norwegian film I've ever seen and liked was "Moerkets oey" with a great soundtrack from the Norwegian band Seigmen. 1732 Hoetten, by the way, had Magne Furuholmen from A-Ha behind the music. Not that it could save this film.
There comes a time when you are just tired of seeing the same Norwegian actors in all of our films. I released a big sigh when Aud Schøneman showed up..not that she's not a fantastic old lady, but can't they find *anybody* new? And of course, they mix in some swedish actors. That's funny, I haven't seen many norwegians in Swedish or danish movies, but still somehow we always seem to import those Swedes..I'm quite sure we have enough competent Norwegian actors that can replace some of the old faces, and some of the Swedes..but they never seem to get a chance to enter the film industry.
The classical setting is of course all taken care of. A hillbilly's town far up north, where everyone knows everyone, and gangs of elder boys torture the youngsters. A strange priest, and a weird family. A girl that is killed. The awful torture of this one little boy, the horrible school. And a really cynical and strange expert from the police in a bigger city, whom is supposed to fix all their problems.
Can't Norway contribute with something new soon? Please?
There comes a time when you are just tired of seeing the same Norwegian actors in all of our films. I released a big sigh when Aud Schøneman showed up..not that she's not a fantastic old lady, but can't they find *anybody* new? And of course, they mix in some swedish actors. That's funny, I haven't seen many norwegians in Swedish or danish movies, but still somehow we always seem to import those Swedes..I'm quite sure we have enough competent Norwegian actors that can replace some of the old faces, and some of the Swedes..but they never seem to get a chance to enter the film industry.
The classical setting is of course all taken care of. A hillbilly's town far up north, where everyone knows everyone, and gangs of elder boys torture the youngsters. A strange priest, and a weird family. A girl that is killed. The awful torture of this one little boy, the horrible school. And a really cynical and strange expert from the police in a bigger city, whom is supposed to fix all their problems.
Can't Norway contribute with something new soon? Please?
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