The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
When was the last time you saw a whimsical but dark Swedish language comedy? I’m guessing that it’s been a while. Written and directed by Felix Herngren, 100 is the story of a hundred year old guy in a retirement home. One day an opportunity arises, he climbs out of the window and goes off in an odyssey that takes him into the present, but also reprises his past, as a guy who guilelessly changed the world several times. Way back a long time ago, Allen Karlsson (played by Robert Gustafsson with extensive make-up…he is not 100) was a strange kid who liked to blow things up. In his past he had been “unmanned” for a sex offense he didn’t commit, collaborated with Robert Oppenheimer when Allen gave him the idea needed to build the atomic bomb, fought in the Spanish Civil War, danced with Franco, met Herbert Einstein (the less brilliant brother of Albert), gotten drunk with Harry Truman, worked for the CIA, been co-opted by the Soviets and been an advisor to Stalin and was purged to the Gulag when he said the wrong thing. After escaping from the Gulag using his self-acquired demolition skill, Allen inspires Reagan and Gorbachev to “tear down that wall”. He’s an anonymous man who has altered history in a big way.
In the present day life-line, Allan accidentally acquires a vast amount of money belonging to drug gangsters, and along with some other similarly clueless folks and an abducted elephant, manages to become the target of a manhunt both by the bikers who were “mules” for the money, as well as the gang boss to whom the money is owed. Somehow this feeble, but resourceful centenarian manages to mostly wipe out the gangs while convincing one member to abandon his violent and mis-spent activity. Characters are blown up, shot, sat upon by the elephant, car-crashed and generally terrorized, all in the name of good humor.
It really is hard to describe the absurdist, somewhat dark humor of this movie, but somehow (don’t ask my why), it seems very Swedish. I can say that because I am half-Swedish and even I don’t completely understand droll, dark, Swedish humor. Unless you are a fan of Swedish movies, you probably won’t recognize any of the cast (I didn’t). The movie is in Swedish, with subtitles and some well placed occasional English voice-over narratives to explain things and provide some structure to this time-shifting, mad-cap story. Thankfully it was not dubbed. I wasn’t sure at the beginning, but being somewhat weary of summer action movies, it seemed like a good alternative. I was really glad we made the choice. This movie is really funny and far more “out there” than any of the predictable summer action movies (except Mad Max of course). It’s a great respite from reality and completely enjoyable…highly recommended.
