Hold-Up

The Poster of Nokas and the robbery theme, lured me in. Particularly striking was the wide depth of field portrayed in the poster, generally only achieved by SLR cameras and lenses.

In the case of Nokas, What you see is indeed What you get.

STORY: The story is the realistic re-creation of a robbery that played out in 2004 in a European theater (Norway). Realistic means, real people loosing their nerves, being hysteric and not playing the heroes in world abiding by physical laws.

SCREENPLAY: The screenplay is well done and traces out the robbery from the first and third person POV, following various people including the robbers and the police.

SOUND: The sound design is slightly above average. There is little background music, and nothing that stood out to me.

VERDICT: 10/10 I consider this a masterpiece, for the being the first of its kind employing this technology in a well-executed, realistic robbery-themed movie.

TECHNOLOGY: Technologically the new camera generation means wider picture angles, shallower depth of field, incredible low light performance, and above all a field of view which allows for a First person perspective. (PS: I didn't find any information regarding the actual camera setup the crew used)

For gamers, the POV perspective is the next best thing to 3D, of putting the viewer directly into the action.

Nokas is a a paradox that works. This careful reconstruction of Norway's biggest ever robbery avoids all sense of cliché - and opts for one of the better directorial decision seen in a crime / heist movie. No drama, no screaming villains or pretty girls, this is a superbly researched semi-documentary that simple records a five hour period in minutiae - yet it is tense, involving, and probably the best recreation of a bank robbery I have seen.

The Nordic style of speaking and manner is captured well - no-one "acts" they simply are, and here we get almost no character development - it's straight-up storytelling, using a lot of mid-shoulder mid-close and close-ups - it is well shot. The camera work etc; fits this well - it never feels amateurish.

Considering how iconic this real event was - in a country where bank robbery is extremely rare - they could have over-glamourised and made a Nordic Heat; by avoiding that trap they had made cinema, a film's film, and one where integrity respects the events but never loses the sense of adrenalin.

Good film-making all round.

In 2004 eight men disguised as the police special forces (SWAT) attempted to rob the Nokas Cash Central in the city of Stavanger. The tragic result of this crime was the death of a police officer who was shot while being in his vehicle and mass-panic in the center of the small Norwegian town. The movie is set on location, adding to the realistic effect while it is shot with a hand-held camera which makes the film all the more suspenseful and full of tension.

We, as the audience, are watching the preparation of the heist, some hours before the actual event with the robbers making their final decisions and the police officers in the Stavanger Station being blissfully ignorant about what's about to happen. The actual robbery covers the entire second half of "Nokas" and is shot in a masterful way by the director Erik Skjoldbjærg ("Insomnia", "Okkupert"). The actors' performances are all great, even though the nature of this film doesn't offer many opportunities to exhibit acting skills. The director states the real facts about the consequences of this crime in the end and it amazed me that 51 of the 57 in total Kroner that was stolen were never found. If you are a true crime fanatic, this is a film not to miss and the same is true for all Nordic Noir fans who are tired by fictional stories and want to watch something else.

Nokas -robbery in stavanger centrum in the easter week of 2004 are the largest cash robbery commited in norwegian history, about 7.5 million dollars in norwegian kroner were stolen. this film is a nervewrekingly made drama that unfolded in the ,for me, well known and very public area of the city near stavanger cathedral church.

i saw this film when screened in the theaters, and i must admit that i was bitten by the negative feeling and criticism by making a film that nearly glorified the criminals. what i see now is that the film has an equal glorification of the desperate actions made by the police, who were entraped and passified by the looters and the holyday season of easter. i do also see that itb took the virginity of safe banking in norway , and must also admit that the criminals were daredevilish when committing this robbery

the film product are among the very few heist films that really makes me feel like hanging in a tread, good filming,informative timeline, great acting,and extremely well made sound product. do have in mind the vast negativism by the citizens of stavanger,who had to go through all this again, there were large protest meeting and the political opinion wre vastly against the making of this film, because the film is shot on location, and therefore makes an even more vivid impression of the actions.

its 15 yrs since the nokas, the perputrators are beginning to be released from norwegian prisons these days, i still have this happening in my guts,the loss of a policeman, many wrecked soles among the nokas employees, and within the police , god bless all of them.

if you like heist movies ,do watch nokas, its pure robbery. recommended.

I just finished seeing this one I found it very worthy to have a look at it.

The story is told in a different way Hollywood uses to do and a different view of a action movie is kind of rare.

OK, the camera is kind of shaky almost all the time but I've said it before: when there is a reason for it for me it's OK. Here the tension is printed by this moving camera and also by the fast editing - without this two elements is kind of difficult to make the film moving or interesting.

The camera closure to the actors shows an intimacy to the characters, we see their expressions constantly and without this it would be difficult because there is no so many dialogues or "shot/reverse-shot" kind of scenes, the action took all the time needed.

The point of views are interesting but sometimes confusing even with the subtitles indicating the time, not a big problem to me.

Nokas has a nice and interesting kind of storytelling that is unusually welcome - at least for me.