Narvik
A little-known chapter in the Second World War is given a human dimension in Erik Skjoldbjærg’s well-meaning Norwegian drama.
Appeasing the enemy: Kristine Hartgen
For those who do not know their Norwegian history, it would be best not to read the one-line summary provided by Netflix. That one sentence is a model of the precise spoiler. Even so, Erik Skjoldbjærg’s Narvik is most likely to appeal to Norwegian cinemagoers, being the story of a particularly significant episode in the Second World War of that country. The eponymous port proved to be a vital cog in the German war machine as 85% of Hitler’s iron ore used to forge his weaponry passed through Narvik. Churchill, recognising the strategic importance of the port, ordered its waters to be mined, thus scuppering Hitler’s access to his precious metal. However, Norway had already declared its neutrality in the conflict and consequently found itself stuck between an outcrop and a hard place…
All of this is true, although director Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia) has seen fit to filter the main action through the perspective of a young soldier, the appropriately named Gunnar (Carl Martin Eggsbø) and his wife Ingrid (Kristine Hartgen), who works as a translator at a local hotel. They are still hopelessly in love and have a young son, Ole, so when Gunnar is called on to face the beastly Hun, Ingrid is left to fend for herself. And so the narrative splits in two, following Gunnar’s attempts to undermine the enemy and Ingrid’s efforts to keep her head above water while catering to the diplomatic needs of the occupying forces.
All this is delivered with a restrained, workmanlike finesse, with the surrounding snow-capped scenery artfully captured by John-Erling Holmenes Fredriksen’s camera. It is unfortunate, then, that Skjoldbjærg’s film arrives in the wake of such anti-war masterpieces as 1917 and All Quiet on the Western Front, as it sounds a minor note in a little-known chapter of European history. It does, though, highlight the human cost of survival in impossible times, when an ordinary life is turned upside down by outside forces. And, in its favour, the Germans here seem less like Satanic caricatures than they do in many movies.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Kristine Hartgen, Carl Martin Eggsbø, Cristoph Gelfert Mathiesen, Henrik Mestad, Mathilde Holtedahl Cuhra, Stig Henrik Hoff, Emil Johnsen, Kari Bremnes, Ollie Campbell, Holger Handtke, Torfinn Nag.
Dir Erik Skjoldbjærg, Pro Aage Aaberge and Live Bonnevie, Screenplay Cristoph Grøndahl, Ph John-Erling Holmenes Fredriksen, Pro Des Merete Boström, Ed Martin Stoltz, Music Christine Hals, Costumes Karen Fabritius Gram.
Nordisk Film-Netflix.
107 mins. Norway. 2022. UK and US Rel: 23 January 2023. Cert. 15.
