"Headhunters" Analysis
Thursday, December 17, 2015
"Headhunters", the 2011 Norwegian action thriller film with the original title of "Hodejegerne", based on the novel by Jo Nesbø and directed by Morten Tyldum, explores the life of an accomplished headhunter and his secret life as an art thief.
The film follows a chronological structure although the use of the occasional flashback, especially towards the end of the film, means that it is non-linear. In terms of the "seven plots" theory, that states that there are only seven different plots, the film follows man versus man. This is because, in the most literal of senses, the film depicts men physically fighting against each other. Furthermore it also depicts the inner-turmoil of the protagonist - Roger Brown (Askel Hennie) - throughout the film and the insecurities and issues that he deals with. This is presented most evidently through the circular structure of the narrative: in the opening scene, Roger makes a comment about his height, and in the final scene he again makes a similar comment regarding his height which shows that he has overcome his insecurity: "My name is Roger Brown. I am 1.68 metres. And you know what? That is more than enough." This is representative of one of the film's biggest themes: insecurity.
Another major theme throughout the film is that of greed. The narrative follows the story of Roger Brown as an art thief and it is in a job where he is offered a considerable amount of money that his life begins to take a change for the worse. Likewise, the corruption of the antagonist, Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), is caused by the greed of wanting to take over his rival company.
Throughout the film, in terms of cinematography, many of the scenes use low-key lighting, high contrasts and cool midtones in order to create a negative atmosphere which connotes the thriller genre. There are other conventions of a thriller genre, too, within the film, including use of non-diegetic mood music which speeds in tempo with the action throughout most of the scenes, creating suspense and tension. Although it is widely considered a thriller, it can also be consider as a hybrid genre as there are many elements of both action, horror and comedy. For example, the numerous fighting scenes and car chases are conventions of an action genre whereas scenes that are portrayed humorously, such as an impaled dog hanging from a tractor during what is supposed to be a tense scene, are conventions of the comedy genre. In terms of horror, the high number of scenes that contain excessive gore is a convention.
Within the film, women are poorly represented in a number of ways. For example, there are just three female characters within the film and each of the three are introduced into the narrative with sexual connotations. The first female character is introduced in a shot that shows her in the shower, the second female character is introduced in a scene that shows her having sex, and the third female character is introduced as a prostitute who is entertaining her client. This suggests that the film was made for the purpose of a heterosexual audience - as described by Laura Mulvey's "The Male Gaze" theory which identifies women in the media as sexual objects for the purpose of entertaining an heterosexual male audience. Furthermore, there are very few scenes within the film that show the female characters with lines of dialogue, cementing the ideal that women lack purpose other than when it is sexual. In terms of racial representation, there are also no named black or Asian characters throughout the entire film, focusing predominantly on the white males.
Overall, I found that "Headhunters" was successful thriller, effectively enticing the audience and ensuring that the narrative was unpredictable in a number of places. This was accomplished by the narrative of the story and how the audience learned more about the story as the protagonist did along with the cinematography and non-diegetic sound that created a tense atmosphere.
Overall, I found that "Headhunters" was successful thriller, effectively enticing the audience and ensuring that the narrative was unpredictable in a number of places. This was accomplished by the narrative of the story and how the audience learned more about the story as the protagonist did along with the cinematography and non-diegetic sound that created a tense atmosphere.
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