The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared

The author, Jonas Jonasson, uses his droll, sometimes wacky Swedish humor to charm the reader and spin a tale about Allan Karlsson, who, on his 100th birthday, decides to go on one last big adventure and climbs out the window of his room in an assisted living facility. Trudging in his slippers, he walks to a nearby bus station to buy a one way ticket to anywhere, with the petty cash he has with him. As he waits for his bus, a young punk desperately in need of using the restroom enters the station and orders Allan to watch his suitcase. The bus arrives and Allan boards with the suitcase in hand, which is soon revealed to contain millions of dollars of a drug lord’s money. Murders follow and the police begin a manhunt in the Swedish countryside. Consequently, Allan meets new friends, including a woman with an elephant, and delivers his “whatever will be will be” philosophical narrative along the way. As the story unfolds, it is revealed he has known, like a Swedish version of Forest Gump, famous and infamous people. As a young man, after the deaths of his parents, his interest and ability to blow things up with dynamite resulted in being committed to an asylum, work with U.S. scientists trying to build the atom bomb, espionage, work with revolutionaries in Spain, and meeting Stalin. He is incarcerated in a gulag, where he meets Einstein’s idiot twin brother. Allan’s first person narrative bounces back and forth in the story. In the present, Allan, and his new group of friends, and the elephant, flee to Bali, and experience more amusing shenanigans. I have bought the DVD and novel several times, and given copies away. Highly recommended!

"...Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared," or "Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann," whichever suits you best. This entry from Sweden (English captions when necessary) is my first rave review from the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival. This black, black comedy played to a packed house; it generated howls of laughter throughout, then thunderous applause when it ended. Some of us laughed all the way home on the bus, too.Director Felix Herngren crafted a brilliant script along with Hans Ingemansson, which was based on Jonas Jonasson's novel about a Zelig-type fellow who loves blowie uppie stuff. Over the course of this hilarious film, we see him with General Franco of Spain, Josef Stalin, Harry Truman, Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer of the Manhattan Project, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and others I failed to note at the time.The movie starts when his beloved cat is killed by a fox...which he promptly blows up, and it goes on from there. The marvelous script unfolds in a logical way, it just sounds so unlikely!We follow: * Robert Gustafsson as Allan Karlsson (brilliant award-winning makeup!), as he ages from a young man who suffers an unfortunate surgery to a very elderly man who loves aquavit or vodka. He has a very simplistic world view and tends to let the big issues roll right off his back. * Iwar Wiklander as Julius, the cordial fellow who helps our hero with his unwieldy suitcase (you should see how he came by THAT!) and dispose of that pesky corpse. * David Wiberg is Benny, a perpetual student who never finishes anything he starts. He needs a firm hand. * Mia Skäringer is Gunilla, who has a very firm hand (and an elephant)! * We also have a terrific supporting cast: a law enforcement officer trying to make sense of the case; an infuriated mob boss demanding that suitcase (if only his thugs could find it!); that other corpse in Djibouti; the elephant who sits on a gunman; plus numerous other lowlifes, thugs and molls.Little touches, like the music's exact match to Allan's footsteps, the cars and clothes that perfectly suit each time period, the senior discount for the bus ticket. It goes on and on....SEE THIS FILM.

It is lighthearted and fairly clean.

Allan, at advanced age, blows up the fox that killed his cat and winds up in a retirement home. On his 100th birthday, he hears small explosions outside his room. He climbs out his window to investigate, and finds a young boy playing with firecrackers. And his freedom. He does not go back inside. Instead, he embarks on a serendipitous adventure, muddling along as he's done all his life.As Allan's adventure unfolds, he narrates the story of his life, and it's presented in flashback scenes. How else would a 100-year-old recount his life in a movie? At a young age, Allan becomes fascinated with explosives. After he's orphaned, his obsession with blowing things up lands him in a mental institution. But his expertise with dynamite serves him well later, as he  Forrest Gump s his way through the 20th century.Yes, Allan is simple, but no simpleton. In the present day, his adventure turns into  It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World , as he and his newfound cronies try to stay ahead of gangster bikers who want their suitcase back. This film is chock full of historical and pop cultural references! The Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, WWII, Einstein's idiot brother, the PM of Canada, President Reagan,  Lawrence Of Arabia , and a reverent reference to the  most coveted item made in the USA .Most of the cast are unknown to me, but Alan Ford does a smashing reprisal of Brick Top, the craziest gangster in  Snatch ; it's worth watching just for that. All the performances are grand, and this is no cheap foreign film. Uh uh, no way. It's a round-the-world tour de force of funny - mostly in the form of booze, peeing, guns, and of course, explosives. The pyrotechnics alone cost a fortune, let alone all the locations! This is a timeless sort of comedy, bound to be rediscovered for generations.You'll want to turn on the closed captioning so you don't miss a word. Most of this movie is not in English, so you'll be reading subtitles! That's why this comedy is for grownups.

This foreign film was excellent, some English dialogue and English sub-titles. We first saw this in Dominican Republic at a resort, could not understand but could follow the movie. When we arrived home we found it and ordered it. You will not be disappointed, very funny.

did not work on my machine but I sent it back and got a full friendly refundThanks

Very funny/imaginative. Great one-liners! Author must have been / be a stand-up comedian,

Loved the book and the movie was great- the people in this movie were as I cld see them when reading the book - very entertaining.

Love this movie .Its nuts