The Monitor (Babycall)
***
The Monitor (2011) is not a bad little Norwegian psychological thriller that kind
of left me a bit miffed by the time it was over. It didn’t wind up making a
whole lot of sense to me by the time the film concluded. Nonetheless, not
surprisingly, Noomi Rapace is really good as a mother barely holding herself
together as she deals with the possibility of losing her son and once again
contending in court with her abusive husband (who tried to murder her son).
Also her grip on reality seems to be slipping as she is hearing something
horrible (screams and violence) across a baby monitor she has in her son’s room
so she can keep tabs on him during the night. This paranoia seems considerable
because of what she claims her ex attempted to do to her boy (drowning
attempt). But the husband, it seems, claims that her testimony against him is
questionable. Also going against her are the “caseworkers” who seem to be
questioning her mothering skills and emotional ability to raise the boy. In
particular, the male caseworker makes disturbing sexual remarks and advances
that are a bit too close for comfort. The one good thing that seems to happen
to Rapace’s Anna is a kind, generous electronics store employee, Helge
(Kristoffer Joner), himself struggling with the dying of his mother (a
life-long cigarette smoker, she’s now on a respirator and seemingly living on
life support). Helge has a past of his own that is relatable to Anna’s son. When
her son has pale skin and bruises, Anna is considered by the school to be
responsible. So there’s all this going on in the film and when it appears that
we will follow Anna to the troubling encounter with the missing husband and a
potential relationship with Helge, everything turns on its head. What Helge
experiences and all that seems to be happening to Anna could or could not be
real.
I found The Monitor compelling yet frustrating as Helge seems quite held together while Anna always appears on the brink of insanity. Not sleeping much, having recollections of a forest, a drowning, and her son’s supposed encounters with the abusive husband (that we never see)—while also worrying about the caseworker expecting her to keep him on her side by perhaps offering up her body in return for his sympathy as the husband might capitalize on any character flaws exposed to the wrong people (school faculty, for example)—Anna is the tragic heroine with a lot of complications besetting her. Helge’s plight in regards to his mother’s demise and noticing Anna’s son’s bruises which unsettle him are also established with much importance. I never understood how he can see things that others don’t while the film seems to indicate that Anna visits a school that her son attends yet the ending muddies the waters considerably to the point that I wish I knew what I’m supposed to take from all of it. Something has to be real out of all of it, right? When a second boy communicates with Anna's son that leads to the discovery of a body in a blue bag found buried in the woods that results in the arrest of parents, I kind of just threw my hands up. Still, overall, the performances are so good--Rapace is a star whose work on the Stieg Larsson "Girl" series and later Hollywood hits such as Prometheus & Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows are no surprise considering how good she is here--and I found the film gripping and creepy most of the way through.
I found The Monitor compelling yet frustrating as Helge seems quite held together while Anna always appears on the brink of insanity. Not sleeping much, having recollections of a forest, a drowning, and her son’s supposed encounters with the abusive husband (that we never see)—while also worrying about the caseworker expecting her to keep him on her side by perhaps offering up her body in return for his sympathy as the husband might capitalize on any character flaws exposed to the wrong people (school faculty, for example)—Anna is the tragic heroine with a lot of complications besetting her. Helge’s plight in regards to his mother’s demise and noticing Anna’s son’s bruises which unsettle him are also established with much importance. I never understood how he can see things that others don’t while the film seems to indicate that Anna visits a school that her son attends yet the ending muddies the waters considerably to the point that I wish I knew what I’m supposed to take from all of it. Something has to be real out of all of it, right? When a second boy communicates with Anna's son that leads to the discovery of a body in a blue bag found buried in the woods that results in the arrest of parents, I kind of just threw my hands up. Still, overall, the performances are so good--Rapace is a star whose work on the Stieg Larsson "Girl" series and later Hollywood hits such as Prometheus & Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows are no surprise considering how good she is here--and I found the film gripping and creepy most of the way through.
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