A depressed man who is a drug addict is released from rehab, and he’s going to hit the town and catch up with some old friends of his. But will he survive outside in the wild?
This is the second movie in the Oslo trilogy. The first movie in the trilogy is Reprise, which is my favorite movie in the trilogy. In that movie, we found Anders Danielsen Lie in the lead role, and he also has the lead role in Oslo, 31. august. This is the best role interpretation in his career as a depressed drug addict. He is great and believable in Oslo, 31. august as a depressed drug addict who feels lost and sorry for himself, even though he denies it.
The protagonist is really depressed, and he doesn’t see any light in his dark mind. He meets old friends, talks to them, and they reflect on their lives.
The best sequence is when the protagonist meets the first friend. They have a long talk, and it’s an interesting conversation with moments of black humor in their dialogue. You feel that the friend is trying to cheer up the protagonist, who hates himself, his life, and what he has become. He has turned into a burden to everyone around him, especially his parents, who are going to sell their house to help him.
But do you feel sorry for the protagonist? In the beginning, you do because you see his vulnerable side. It’s not easy to be depressed and not see the light, so if you have empathy, you will feel sorry for him at the start of the movie.
But what’s interesting is that he becomes a jerk in the second half of the movie. I also feel the movie loses some of its quality in the second half. It’s not a long movie, with a runtime of around 90 minutes, but in the second half—and especially in the last 20 minutes—there isn’t much dialogue. The little dialogue it has doesn’t match the quality of the first half. I really love the first half and feel it’s a better movie than Reprise until the second half, where Reprise takes back the crown.
So you start by rooting for the protagonist, hoping he won’t do anything stupid. In the first scene, he tries to take a long and deep swim, but he doesn’t succeed in meeting his maker. You know he’s a loose cannon, and you hope that after having long conversations with his friends, the depressive blanket will lift from his head so he can see the light at the end of the tunnel and take small steps to become the man he wants to be. But that’s a difficult task because of his depression and attitude toward his own situation. Depressed people can be jerks because of their illness, which is fine, but I really didn’t like how unsympathetic the protagonist becomes in the second half, and I missed the earlier conversations that were lacking in the second half.
Reprise is my favorite movie in the trilogy, while Oslo, 31. august takes second place. Oslo, 31. august should have had a better script in the second half with sharper dialogue and characters who could challenge the protagonist. But in the second half, there are too many women who are there just to have fun and do their sexy stuff. That deep conversation that could save him from doing something stupid is missing in the second half. His attitude becomes worse and worse, which makes you dislike him.