Recoil creator and writer Arne Berggren boasts a screenwriting career of 30 years, beginning with the miniseries he created in 1993 "Halvveis til himmelen" through to his latest creation, the series "Liv".
The Norwegian writer is also a novelist, children's writer, and rock musician. His recent work, including Outlier, Hvaler, The River and Catch and Release, does not flinch away from the darkest elements of human beings.
Despite such a lengthy career, Berggren, who serves as both a director and writer on Recoil, is positive that “in no way” has his enthusiasm for creating screen stories faded.
“I have a fantastic collaboration with my fellow showrunner and series creator, Kristine Berg. On Recoil we worked with director Margreth Bergheim, whom we know well from several series. It just keeps getting more and more exciting. I truly believe that drama can say something substantial about the world we live in, and rarely have we seen so many approaches, variations, and blends of genres within TV drama as we do today.”
In Recoil, Berggren has transformed a true crime – the biggest corruption case in Norway’s history, in fact – into a fictional tale. In 2017, former policeman Eirik Jensen was imprisoned for corruption and drug trafficking, resulting in a 21-year prison. He’d recruited an informer in 1993 and, for years afterwards, they had conspired to smuggle hash internationally. It was an operation that earned them well over $360 million. In March this year, Jensen was released due to being “unfit for imprisonment” owing to health problems.
'Recoil' is based on a a real-life corruption scandal. Credit: Viaplay
“That's where we began,” explains Berggren. “Originally, we were considering dramatising Jensen’s autobiography, but we concluded that there were too many unresolved questions. However, significant information about the darker side of the police was revealed. We conducted extensive research in a world filled with shades of grey and darkness.”
It is not difficult to see the real-life Jensen in Recoil character Tom Karlsen, the smug, young police officer who is climbing up the ranks, but we meet him later. The heart of this series is Robin Wold.
Young Oslo brothers Robin and Marius Wold are in the midst of a major drug deal when the police bust their operation in the dead of night. Marius is shot and killed, while Robin is arrested and imprisoned for six years.
Upon his release, Robin is pulled in two directions. On the one hand, he is still young and he can envision a future where he is able to build an independent life with a job, a lover, a home of his own. On the other hand, his beloved older brother was shot in an operation that resulted in the mysterious disappearance of vast amounts of drugs and money. Did the same cops who killed Marius also reap the lucrative benefits of the crime they were duty-bound to prevent and solve?
Berggren says, “Robin is a classic anti-hero, and the sympathy [viewers feel] probably arises from the fact that he is passive and doesn't quite understand the reality outside the prison. He's like an empty shell, and he is set to become human, to start anew. A lot of our sympathy lies in the casting, too. Odin Waage, who plays Robin, was first discovered when he was a teenager. Since his role in Recoil he has become one of the most recognisable faces in Norwegian film and TV. He is perfect for portraying a slightly damaged and introverted character who struggles to act and make choices, and I believe that is what gives him sympathy.” [Waage can also be seen in the Norwegian drama Wisting, also ].
Erica (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) and Robin (Odin Waage). Credit: Viaplay
Before Robin even has the chance to deliberate on which path to take in this fork in the road, he is contacted by the gang that Marius was operating with six years ago. They are in debt to the syndicate, and unless they can determine who stole the drugs and money that night and repay what they owe, none of them will survive. Robin’s fate appears sealed. He is not alone, though. Marius’ girlfriend Erica (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) never stopped asking questions about what happened to her lover that night, and she is duly recruited to apply her hacking prowess to investigating how the police discovered the drug operation, and disguised their own corrupt dealings in it.
They learn that officer Tom Karlsen (Tommy Hyving) was promoted following his role in the bust. His morally dubious boss, Rolf Ladegård (Gard B. Eidsvold) is adept at falsifying paperwork, and both of them manipulate prosecutor Kris Heltberg (Petronella Barker) into providing warrants without due cause. It’s an interesting quandary for viewers: do we empathise with the police, taking advantage of the proceeds of crime or with the criminals, who potentially stood to gain enormous wealth at the expense of Norway’s drug addicts and dealers?
Berggren says, “Initially, their goal is probably rational and to some extent ethically justified, but each of them has a slightly different motive for being involved. Along the way, it changes, becoming a matter of revenge, of honour. I believe that's something that fascinates us most about criminal environments, [their commitment to vengeance] and it rarely ends well. It becomes self-destructive.”
Recoil is currently not available at SBS On Demand.
See more of Bergren's work in The River, streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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The River
