Karl-Göran Persson (Denis Lavant) is a peculiar resident of a small farming community in Sweden during the Cold War. Impacted by the national slogan “If War Comes”, his fear begins to snowball into paranoia. He is convinced that a takeover is imminent. His coping mechanism is building a redoubt/fortress in order to protect himself and his community when the enemy arrives. This project starts to consume his life as every moment of his day relates to gathering miscellaneous objects in order to fortify this new space. The film bounces back and forth between centring his own perspective and anxiety, and the confused reactions of his neighbours observing his descent into a quiet madness.

Starting as a short back in 2014, Redoubt‘s narrative approach this story is relatively simple. Promising Swedish director John Skoog returns to the staggering beauty and loneliness of rural Scandinavia that grounded his debut feature Ridge (2019). Within this bizarrely sterile world, the filmmaker approaches Karl-Göran’s story with emphasised patience.

The film isn’t concerned with Karl-Göran’s backstory. It does not attempt to create an inner turmoil and fear melodrama. Skoog’s approach to this barebones story with a inherently narrow-minded protagonist is inventive. He finds a variety of ways to present Karl-Göran’s collection and separate quests for materials to the audience. The townspeople observe the eccentric loner, worry about him, occasionally mock him, or just dismiss him. At times, the camera feels gently invasive. Images of the calm and bucolic vastness are juxtaposed on top of a frantic Karl-Göran desperately pouring concrete over the jagged fragments. The outcome is eerie.

Denis Lavant’s delivers a monumental performance. The 64-year-old has to carry out an extensive amount of work in the wordless scenes. These are physically demanding tasks not typically associated with a man of his age. This is the Frenchman’s first Swedish-language role. He wholeheartedly embraces the psyche of Scandinavian isolationism. He brings nuance to the trope of the countryside hermit. His fixation with the redoubt isn’t grounded on self-preservation but instead on love for his community. Karl-Göran is awkward and antisocial, however never bitter.

Redoubt is a piece of slow cinema: the takes are long, and the structure is often repetitive. The framing choices emphasise severity and weight, however trivial the actions. Polish cinematographer Ita Zbroniec-Zajt’s black-and-white cinematography is elegantly crisp, and appropriate for the film’s bleak message and pace. With his background as a photographer, this story plays to Skoog’s strengths: the frames are arranged delicately. The awe-inspiring environment and the abstract industrial byproducts are combined to exquisite results.

The slow cinema approach isn’t always effective. Despite its relatively short runtime of just 80 minutes, Redoubt occasionally drags. At times, the sound design feels complacent. And the jolting cuts don’t always work.

All in all, Redoubt achieves a very good tonal balance between a brutal drama of obsessive paranoia and a warm and gentle portrait of a vulnerable misfit. It is never embarrassed of the idiosyncrasies of the survivalist mindset. This is simple and deeply humanistic film endeavour.

Redoubt is in cinemas on Friday, March 27th.