Norwegian Ninja Review

• 11th Apr 2011

Set in Norway during the 80s, the Cold War is raging across Europe and America and Russia fight for supremacy of the land. Thankfully, Norway has ensured against this insurgent threat by forming a crack team of ninjas under the direct control of the king. Their legendary leader Arne Treholt (Mads Ousdal), a kind of mystical ninja farmer, will stop at nothing to destroy anyone interfering with the Norwegian way of life.

Norwegian Ninja director, Thomas Cappelen Malling, published a book in 06 entitled Ninja Technique II: Invisibility in Combat 1978. This was a textbook to explain the techniques used by Arne Treholt and his ninjas. Treholt is a former Norwegian politician and spy who, in 1985, was convicted of high treason and espionage. Malling was only 12 years old when this happened, so his re-telling is from what he experienced through the media at the time.

Arne Treholt and his ninja brothers uncover a plan by a secret group following the ‘Stay Behind’ plan to destroy the Norwegian way of life. They are undertaking terrorist acts within Norway and ensuring Soviet blame to allow the USA to take over the country lead by Otto Meyer (Jon Øigarden). He soon becomes the focus of Treholt’s revenge for his arrest for high treason.

The film is as insane and absurd as it sounds, rewriting history into a version it proclaims is the actual truth. The ninja farmers live in perfect harmony on an island away from the madness of mass population. Their immediate environment is protected a by a force field of Feng Shui which repels all negative energy and Treholt is shown to be the ultimate Norwegian hero as he singlehandedly kicks everyone’s ass that even dares to disrupt the way of life he holds dear.

The 80s setting does not stop the director from drawing from recent history for his fear inducing plot. An attack on an oil rig re-calls the recent Deepwater Horizon disaster and a bi-plane attack on the city hall twin towers is undoubtedly a nod to 9/11. The contention seems to be that the youth of today are as influenced by the hysterical media coverage of events as Malling was back in the 80s. The Cold War has simply been replaced by the War on Terror.

Norwegian Ninja is brilliantly shot as a low budget slice of Paul Verhoeven Starship Troopers political allegory. The mix of news footage genuine and fake, surveillance camera and eye in the sky shots make for a true sense of manipulation and paranoia. Thomas Cappelen Malling has done a fantastic job in creating a film with a truly unique look, thanks to the Wes Anderson-esque manuals and Thunderbids-esque miniatures. The film, at times, has an almost dreamlike quality that lends itself perfectly to the proposition of having to protect a way of life from being underhandedly eroded. The film makes no bones about calling the masses idiots who simply follow what they are told, that is why Norway needs Treholt to keep things as they are.

Norwegian Ninja is a very hard film to recommend to anyone as it’s so unique that even trying to explain it can become very difficult. Sadly it did not hold my attention for its full running time but there was much to enjoy. Thankfully, Malling is smart enough to understand his narrative limits and has kept the running time to a modest 80 minutes. The film becomes more interesting post viewing once you have investigated the history of Treholt himself. This would naturally not occur within Norway as it was such a moment of national disgrace back in 1985. No doubt its title lives up to the content in that both are ridiculously sublime but the joke does wear thin rather quickly.

Aled Jones