Release Date – TBC, Cert – TBC, Run-time – 1 hour 25 minutes, Director – John Skoog
The peak of the Cold War, farmer Karl-Göran (Denis Lavant) sets to work building a protective shelter for him and the nearby village. However, the more it grows the more isolated and ridiculed he becomes.
The Cold War creates two worlds in Redoubt. That of fear faced by farmer Karl-Göran (Denis Lavant) as he sets about creating a shelter for himself, and that of everyday life for the nearby village, who with every day that passes without a nuclear strike he expands his build to include as many of as possible. The local children run through the muddy fields that he carries scraps of wood, metal and tires through telling him how they’re gathering materials for their own fort. It’s these children who take the most interest in Karl and his efforts, and he seems to spend more time with them than anyone else in the unwelcoming landscape – captured in dark greys of black and white – before isolating himself more and more as his shelter expands.
Lavant’s performance is a very quiet one. The more isolated his character becomes the greater the weight he appears to carry is, his worry of nuclear war growing with each day – leading to further isolation as the young men in the village ridicule him, especially when the shelter becomes his home. It’s as these comments start to come into play, almost around halfway through the film, that Redoubt starts to gain more substance and we find more of an emotional connection with Karl, alongside a growing fascination with the shifting forces that are propelling him.
Co-writer (alongside Kettil Kasan) and director John Skoog maintains a restrained sound and image to the film. Karl’s shelter gradually becomes less a fort as the children view it and more an impenetrable fortress, as if designed to keep the rest of the world out as he still builds it for that world. Housing himself in cold and darkness so no radiation can get him when the, to him, inevitable arrives. It takes some time for things to get going as the slow pacing, and minimal dialogue, establish the relationships at play. And while it’s initially engaging to simply see the construction happening, albeit it not with the overhanging feeling of threat or dread which doesn’t appear to be a major factor of the film as a whole, it takes some time to properly form an emotional connection, despite Lavant’s stone-faced performance.
Without an overhanging dread, it takes some time to form an emotional connection with Denis Lavant’s quietly-performed, weight-carrying character. But, as we see more of those around him, and the well-captured build and landscape grow, there’s a connecting intrigue in just how things will develop.
Just A Little Bit Random 