‘Forrest Gump’ gets old and blows things up in one of strangest films of the year

THE 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of the Window and Disappeared: One of the strangest films that will be released in 2014.

Scene from Swedish film The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

IMAGINE, if you can, Forrest Gump as an exceedingly elderly Swedish trouble magnet with a lifelong penchant for blowing up stuff.

Now you’re as near as you’ll ever get to an accurate lock on one of the strangest films that will be released in 2014.

Robert Gustafsson stars as Allan Karlsson, who embarks on a slo-mo escape from his nursing home and becomes the most wanted man in Sweden. Picture: Supplied

A monster hit across Scandinavia and wider Europe earlier this year, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of the Window and Disappeared is indeed the tale of an ancient codger who makes a spindly run for it by, err, climbing through a window and vanishing from sight.

On the very day he hits triple figures, Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson) decides he has had enough of the nursing home that may as well be a prison.

The spare change in Allan’s pocket not only buys him the bus ticket by which he makes his great slo-mo escape. It also makes him the most wanted man in Sweden.

Gustafsson in one of the flashback scenes that fuel comparisons with Forrest Gump. Picture: Supplied

How so? Well, that takes too much explaining. All you really need to know is that Allan has accidentally come into possession of a suitcase full of serious drug money.

Understandably, the murderous cartel of neo-Nazi skinheads who consider themselves the rightful owners of those misbegotten millions are in a hurry to get that cash back.

Throughout the wild-goose chase that follows, Allan’s absentee mind will occasionally wander off to his younger years.

These endearingly bizarre flashback sequences are where the Forrest Gump comparisons are proven correct.

Allan Karlsson makes his great escape in a scene from the film. Picture: Supplied

Allan’s expertise with homemade explosives (and fondness for Russian vodka) places him at some important moments in 20th century history.

Allan also gets face time with the likes of Josef Stalin, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev and Albert Einstein’s idiot twin brother, Herbert.

Though the movie’s mix of the whimsical and the weird will not be to all tastes, there is still much to recommend here if you love an out-there in-joke or two.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of the Window (M)

Director: Felix Herngren (Every Other Week)

Starring: Robert Gustafsson, Alan Ford, Mia Skaringer, Johan Rheborg

Verdict: Three stars. Here’s how you hit a century

Originally published as ‘Forrest Gump’ gets old and blows things up in one of strangest films of the year