David, an aspiring meteorologist, follows his late father’s footsteps in the Swedish military. After stumbling upon what’s left of his father’s work, David sets off to a desert island in the Barents Sea – the place which may hold the truth about his father’s passing. Confronted by strange lights in the dark, eerie radio disturbances, and a hidden cave, David begins to question whether or not he’s really alone on the island. Suddenly, a female voice calls out over the otherwise silent radio – a stranger trying to reach David. Little does he know, his search for truth is about to descend into a much larger conspiracy.
Johan Storm is a young Swedish director who, through Shadow island, is interested in exposing the complex historical and geopolitical relationship between Sweden and its neighbors such as Russia and Norway. He sets up successfully a fictional island as a symbolic space for Sweden’s political dilemma over NATO membership and its difficult relationship with Russia.
“The idea behind Shadow Island came to mind when studying the geopolitical effects of the cold war as well as Sweden’s role during and after that period”, explains the director on his own website. While the plot focuses on David’s relationship with the mysterious island, the tension that the director wants to show in the film is constantly created by radio discussions about Sweden’s NATO membership or announcement of military exercises.
Heading to the Island
It is by coincidence that David decides to go to the island where his father Gustav, who died 18 years ago, used to work. When David visits his mother, he finds a box containing his father’s belongings. It sparks David’s curiosity about Gustav’s work on the island. Especially an unknown family photo of parents and a boy holding a baby kept in the box bothers David. Who is this family? Why is the photo kept in the box?
David (Johann L. Heinstedt)
The movie does not tell us the exact location of the island. It would be somewhere in the Barents Sea, on the northern coast of Norway and Russia. The unnamed island is symbolically “in between” the two worlds of Scandinavia and Russia. The rough weather accentuates the strange atmosphere of the place.
A nest of spies?
Staying in an abandoned lighthouse where Gustav seems to have lived, David one day finds a single footprint, not his own shoe print, near a destroyed weather observation device. In different circumstances, it might make him happy to learn that he is not alone. But the fact that the device has been brutally destroyed indicates that his presence on the island is unwelcome. Eventually, he discovers a cave entrance and a locked door. And he begins to believe that someone is seriously watching his back. But, who and for what?
Johann L. Heinstedt, who plays David, gives a wonderful performance, especially in the scenes where David is faced with mysterious and uncertain situations: In the strong winds, David’s emotion seems to almost blow up with fear.
Northern and Southern lighthouses
Meanwhile, David meets Sarah (probably a Norwegian), who is staying at the Southern lighthouse. Sarah is an important character for the story, as a sort of fairy tale “donor” who provides materials protagonist needs to accomplish his goal. David learns basic information about the lighthouse from her. Without Sarah, the purpose of his visit on the island wouldn’t be achieved. The story that unfolds as he meets Sarah is a bit kitsch, but it is thrilling to follow it as we learn that Sarah’s life is deeply intertwined with the events that happened to David’s father 18 years ago, and who the family in the picture exactly is.
Sarah (Hanne Mathisen Haga)
The way the truth is revealed through the film is interesting and sometimes imaginative. But you may find it stressful. Perhaps that is because I am not familiar with the Scandinavian language and society. What I don’t appreciate about this film is one of the opening scenes, the one where David is tortured. I unfortunately don’t see the point in bringing it here at the beginning of the movie, unlike another scene where a boy is rowing the boat which is very symbolic. Overall, I enjoyed the film as it made me discover the geopolitical context specific to Sweden as a Scandinavian country.
