Film - Indebted

Indebted

Steve Taylor-Bryant remembers his reviews of the films released by our friends at Raindance. Scandinavian thriller Indebted from 2012 now...

The last time I watched a Scandinavian film I really struggled. I think it was the poor translation in the subtitles but with Finnish film Indebted after a while you forget there is subtitles, so gripping is the story unfolding in front of your eyes.

Ellie (Heidi Linden) is a poor biology student struggling with debt as the part time work she has, along with a penchant for partying, is making it hard to cover all her bills, even with the pawning of her grandmothers pearls. After a confusing one-night stand in which she gets paid, Ellie embarks down the road of prostitution. Iris (Kristiina Puuko) is a violent, hardened fighter working for an underground gang as a debt collector. She is smitten with Andrei (Juha Arora) who nearly died during a raid, but Andrei is embarking on a romance with the girl he met in a bar whilst partying, Ellie.

This is a thriller about trust or lack of it, lies and the extreme measures taken by ordinary people when they are placed in dangerous situations. The cast are all fantastic, playing each character with true drama, hence the subtitles disappearing from my vision about half way through. The two main characters are both really strong female characters, played incredibly well but in very different ways.

Heidi Linden as Ellie is very watchable and has a quality about her not often seen on the big screen, that quality being the ability for me to really feel for her and hope she comes out of the situation well, even though I know the path she is going down is wrong. Kristiina Puuko plays the more hardened Iris and reminds me of Noomi Rapace in her style. Hard, violent and yet there is a real human side to her if you look deep enough.

If all Scandinavian films are this good, then I shall be opening up the chequebook and purchasing a collection. Not often do I get gripped by a film in the way I was during Indebted.

Image - IMDb.
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