The Monitor (film)

The Monitor (original title: Babycall; titled The Monitor under US release) is a 2011 Norwegian thriller film written and directed by Pål Sletaune and starring Noomi Rapace. The original title, Babycall, is the Norwegian/Swedish term for a baby monitor; the film maintained this title upon release in Europe and Australia. The film was released on October 7, 2011 in Norway, and was released direct-to-video in the United States on July 24, 2012.

Anna (Noomi Rapace) and her 8-year-old son Anders (Vetle Qvenild Werring) move into a large flat outside Oslo. Anna is concerned that they will be found by her violent husband after being relocated. The two receive occasional visits from two child care workers, Grete and Ole, who warn Anna that her ex-husband may soon reopen a custody case over Anders. Anders begins attending a nearby school.

Anna first forces Anders to sleep with her in her room, but when this is discouraged by the case workers she looks for a babycall (baby monitor) at an electronics stop and meets Helge (Kristoffer Joner), a shy gentleman whose mother is dying in a hospital. The two begin to visit regularly at and near Helge's workplace. Helge tells Anna that his mother is unwell and currently at a hospital, and Anna tells Helge about her son. The two developed a friendly albeit fragile relationship - while Anna is an over-protective mother, Helge was an over-protected son unwilling to acknowledge the negative feelings he has about how his mother treated him as a child. Compelled to feel charitable towards over-protective mothers, Helge is only too eager to ‘understand’ Anna’s refusal to let go of Anders. Similarly, Anna is only too eager to believe that an over-protected son might grow up to understand why his mother would not let him go.

The first night Anders slept in his own room, Anna hears disturbing sounds on the babycall, including screaming. Terrified, Anna runs to Anders' room but finds him asleep. The next day, Anna returns to the electronics store and spoke to Helge, who said that her monitor could pick up other frequencies if they were close enough, meaning that the screams were emanating from someone else within 50 meters. On a map of their apartment complex, drawn by Anders, Anna begins to try to decipher the source of the other frequency.

Anders approaches Anna with a similar looking boy as she waits to pick him up from school. Anders tells Anna that he has made a new friend and is going to take him home with them. Anna is fairly suspicious of the boy who hardly speaks and does not return Anna's gestures to connect with him. After hearing some ruckus Anna finds Anders in the kitchen, upset because he believes Anna ruined his picture, which now has a dead body covered in blood at the base of the apartments drawn on it. Anna denies adding this to the paper and attributes it to Anders' friend.