Why did he lie about shooting Vik?
why didn't he just say it was accident?
shareSimple; there would not have been a story! lol
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MovieChat Forums > Insomnia (1998) Discussion > Why did he lie about shooting Vik?
In Sweden cops carry guns but in Norway they do not. Skargårds' character carried his sidearm illegaly, probably cause of habit as a Swedish cop. So when he shot his partner it wouldn't have been just a regular on the job accident because of this.
shareah, did not know that - makes sense now - thanks
shareSwedishPsycho, thanks for clearing that up. I would have liked it if they had found a way somehow to sneak that into the film. Maybe when the female cop who was questioning Jonas could have said something to test his reaction like: "I don't think you killed your partner because we all know that police in this country aren't entitled to possess firearms". That's just an example from the top of my head.
shareI think there was a whole scene explaining this at the beginning of the movie. When he's packing his bags to travel to Norway they tell him he can't bring his gun but he sneaks it in anyway because he thinks it's stupid not to be armed. Then he knows he'll get in trouble later for having killed a fellow cop with it.
Norwegian police don't carry a gun when they're going after a dangerous killer? Very hard to believe, and would be self-destructive and stupid.
I know they don't carry one when they are on regular patrol, but that is very different scenario.
Yes it would be stupid and I don't think the issue of whether you can carry a gun in Norway or not is behind it. He is a hero brouht to Norway to solve a case. He simply could not have started by a horrible mistake.
shareIMO (of course) it does have to do with that.
My understanding is that in many European countries police in general don't carry guns but there are special "armed police" that do. I even think this was alluded to when someone (I think it was Hilde) mentioned that you need a "special permit" to carry a gun, even as a cop. So Jonas was operating outside the law when he brought his gun into Norway and that's why he didn't want to mention it. Granted, that problem was relatively minor compared to killing someone, and Jonas of course didn't want to get involved in that, but I don't believe he was permitted to carry that gun without asking express permission.