Movie Review: ‘In Order of Disappearance’ – Plowing through Suspense

In this combination of black comedy and Nordic noir, we are treated to gangster mobs, drug trade, a father’s revenge, kidnapping, dumping corpses over waterfalls, and snow plows. In Order of Disappearance is a Norwegian Fargo. The main character, Nils (the Scandinavian acting legend Stellan Skarsgard), is a government employee who operates a huge snow plow in the Norwegian hinterland. When his only son is murdered for being at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong friend, Nils seeks revenge.

Winning a blood feud isn’t easy, especially not in a welfare state, with organized crime expertly hidden beneath the radar. But Nils has something going for him: his spotless reputation as a devoted civil servant, heavy machinery that can plow through more than snow, and the strategic and tactical skills required for plotting against a mob.

In Order of Disappearance has, as the title suggests, a morbid body count. Nils soon turns into a ruthless, laser-focused avenging angel. The character Greven– the drug lord and “godfather ” to the cutthroat Norwegian drug syndicate – is a psychopath. Nonetheless, Greven has some bizarrely comic scenes with his child, who is bullied at school and in the bathtub.

Beautifully filmed, In Order of Disappearance brilliantly evokes the white, cold, and barren Norwegian winter together with a sense of isolation and desolation. Skarsgard brings a stoic detachment to the revenge he is determined to see to the end – served cold.   Just as you will never look at a wood chipper in the same way after seeing the movie Fargo, you’ll never watch a snow plow with the usual disinterest again.

Well worth seeing.

Note:  In Order of Disappearance is planned as a remake, retitled Hard Powder, starring Liam Neeson for release in 2018.