Skyggenes dal is a Norwegian mystery drama film, directed by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. On this movie, the audience see the world by the eyes of Aslak (Adam Thornes Ekeli), an innocent and quiet, but sensible and introspective boy, who filters with his lugubrious, but vivid intelligence all the disturbed and restless occurrences around him. Aslak lives with his mother, Astrid (Kathrine Fagerland), and it’s not possible to discover anything about them, besides what becomes implicit in the storyline. For example, in the beginning of the movie, it’s possible to perceive that Aslak has an older brother that he doesn’t see for some time. Eventually, the police come to their home to talk to Astrid, and then Astrid begins to cry desperately. When the police enter their house asking to see the room of her older son, it becomes gradually implicit by the facts revealed that Astrid was forced to expel her oldest son from home, as he was probably addicted to drugs. Uncomfortable in having him around being a bad influence on Aslak, she may have expelled him. The circumstances unveil that he probably has died from a drug overdose, and so Astrid becomes severely distressed over her son’s death.
Aslak is too young to perceive with all its lethal densities and implications the dramatic urges and the pungent complexities of the world around him; nevertheless, he easily assimilates all the conjuncture upon which pain and suffering are latent, as the movie slowly, but consistently captures the sensibilities of existence from the point of view of the vast innocence and puerility of the young boy, although his acute intelligence warns him against the unwanted frivolities of the adult universe, from which he becomes somewhat protected, doing his best to be cautious and guarded in the cozy refugee of a very personal world. His light blond hair and his profoundly questionable and vigilant green eyes gives an insight about the peculiarities of his relationship with the world around him, how he relates to it, how he understands it, in all the vicinities familiar to him.
Aslak is too young to perceive with all its lethal densities and implications the dramatic urges and the pungent complexities of the world around him; nevertheless, he easily assimilates all the conjuncture upon which pain and suffering are latent, as the movie slowly, but consistently captures the sensibilities of existence from the point of view of the vast innocence and puerility of the young boy, although his acute intelligence warns him against the unwanted frivolities of the adult universe, from which he becomes somewhat protected, doing his best to be cautious and guarded in the cozy refugee of a very personal world. His light blond hair and his profoundly questionable and vigilant green eyes gives an insight about the peculiarities of his relationship with the world around him, how he relates to it, how he understands it, in all the vicinities familiar to him.
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Soon, a friend comes to play with him outside, and eventually shows him mutilated cattle, that were probably attacked by a wild, ferocious animal, that – as a local urban legend that probably originated from rumor explains –, lives in a great and desolated hazy mountain nearby, that grows to be a folklore of its own on Aslak’s fertile imagination. Nevertheless, the somewhat solitary existence of the boy makes him wander throughout the pale ocean of his own related fantasies, driven in the invisible storm of his inquisitive restlessness, that are in full juxtaposition of a monotonous life, where anything relevant happens.
In a certain occasion, when his dog escapes, Aslak goes after him. Eventually, he ventures into a vast forest, which is basically obscure unknown territory, and finds a man in a remote cabin. The man seems to be friendly, and both begin to talk. At this point, tough – as Aslak’s mind drives the omniscient grace of the narrative – it’s impossible to know what is real and what is not. Aslak could just be talking and interacting with a product of his own fertile imagination, his psychological device to deal with the pervasive, hostile and disgraceful monotony of reality.
Any significant part of this movie, but especially from the second half onward, could be an extension of Aslak’s dream. He frequently runs down the lake in a boat, sometimes sleeping on it. In several passages, Skyggenes dal has reminded me of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, a movie where the delusional blur between fantasy and reality are projected as a matter of perspective; a sensible impression on the conscience of time, that touches the tissue of reality with such an imperial pragmatism, that existence itself is comprehended as a lucid dream.
In a certain occasion, when his dog escapes, Aslak goes after him. Eventually, he ventures into a vast forest, which is basically obscure unknown territory, and finds a man in a remote cabin. The man seems to be friendly, and both begin to talk. At this point, tough – as Aslak’s mind drives the omniscient grace of the narrative – it’s impossible to know what is real and what is not. Aslak could just be talking and interacting with a product of his own fertile imagination, his psychological device to deal with the pervasive, hostile and disgraceful monotony of reality.
Any significant part of this movie, but especially from the second half onward, could be an extension of Aslak’s dream. He frequently runs down the lake in a boat, sometimes sleeping on it. In several passages, Skyggenes dal has reminded me of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, a movie where the delusional blur between fantasy and reality are projected as a matter of perspective; a sensible impression on the conscience of time, that touches the tissue of reality with such an imperial pragmatism, that existence itself is comprehended as a lucid dream.
For me, the formidable degree of artistry applied to this work was simply fabulous, despite the fact that the story in itself is relatively simple, and absolutely anything too exuberant or significant ever happens. The movie seems to stand still over the lethargy of a frozen time, but this may be deliberate, to conceive a frame of opaque monotony that could give to the audience the dimension of the vast introspective world inhabited by Aslak. The contrast between the calmness of his whereabouts and the security of life in a remote secluded area – a small village in rural Norway – with the empty and unknown infinity that lies deeply behind his expressive eyes, is also a major highlight in the movie, that definitely conceives the human existence as more than just a solitary shadow in the background: in the melancholic boundaries of the lugubrious, albeit vivacious dream world of Aslak, there is the frontier to the real world, a much more painful and sanguinary place, that makes him feel uncomfortable. So, fortunately, he has his own personal world to inhabit, that exists in a personal universe where absolutely anything bad could harm him, or inflict to him any type of injury.
Despite the fact that the story is somewhat very simple – and is, to an extent, stricken with a modest degree of monotony –, the movie has a cohesive storyline, a decent and realistic premise and very decent interpretations. At one hour and twenty five minutes long, it is also very objective and direct to the point. The beauty of the cinematography makes the visual element definitely very elegant, and the intense, lucid, captivating and dense, yet discreet performance of Adam Thornes Ekeli as Aslak, definitely makes this film an extraordinary feature. You may not become extremely impressed by this movie, but certainly its poetic eloquence, its artistic imagery, its unorthodox premise and the profound philosophic virtuosity applied upon themes of loneliness, vagueness, imagination and a childish world of dreams conceived as a refugee against the pain of reality, certainly makes Skyggenes dal a marvelously sophisticated, gracious and poetic feature.
Wagner
Despite the fact that the story is somewhat very simple – and is, to an extent, stricken with a modest degree of monotony –, the movie has a cohesive storyline, a decent and realistic premise and very decent interpretations. At one hour and twenty five minutes long, it is also very objective and direct to the point. The beauty of the cinematography makes the visual element definitely very elegant, and the intense, lucid, captivating and dense, yet discreet performance of Adam Thornes Ekeli as Aslak, definitely makes this film an extraordinary feature. You may not become extremely impressed by this movie, but certainly its poetic eloquence, its artistic imagery, its unorthodox premise and the profound philosophic virtuosity applied upon themes of loneliness, vagueness, imagination and a childish world of dreams conceived as a refugee against the pain of reality, certainly makes Skyggenes dal a marvelously sophisticated, gracious and poetic feature.
Wagner
