Kampen om Tungtvannet (2015) - Review in english

Recieving great reviews and being a success among the public, setting the new record for drama series when it premiered on national TV network in Norway on January 4, 2015, winning the live audience of about 1.2 million viewers on Sunday night (about 24% of the Norwegian population was watching the season premiere), the Norwegian TV mini-series Kampen om Tungtvannet (original title) or The Heavy Water War: Stopping Hitler's Atomic Bomb (in English) depicts a true story of World War II. Narrated in three angles the Norwegian production of 6 episodes follows the trajectory of the Nazi nuclear program, the fight of the Allies to stop them and the management of Norsk Hydro, the company that owns the heavy water plant, a key substance for the German plans.

The TV mini-series begins slowly, developing the characters and their dilemmas and also exploring the reasons Allies and Nazis fight for the heavy water. Why it was so important and where it would be possible to get it? Over the first episodes this whole plot is made clear.

The Nazi research program is shown through the eyes of Werner Heisenberg (played by Christoph Bach, known for Shirley: Visions of Reality - 2013), German scientist who in 1933 won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution in quantum mechanics. Heisenberg devoted his life to science, abdicating social and family life. In 1939 he began working for the German government, conducting the research for the development of nuclear energy. He sees the atomic bomb as a nuisance, but a necessary means for the development of science. The war would be at the service of science.

The Norwegian scientist and professor Leif Tronstad (played by Espen Kloumann Høiner, known for Reprise - 2006) was one of those responsible for the construction of the chemical factory Norsk Hydro, in the Vemork plant on the outskirts of the town of Rjukan in Norway. By joining the Allies in England, he was essential to prevent the success of the Nazi plans, since he was a member of the Norwegian Resistance and still stayed in touch with them. He also was aware of the building plan and the site procedures. To Tronstad the lives of employees and other inhabitants of the area should be preserved in the conflict.

The director of Norsk Hydro, Bjørn Henriksen (played by Dennis Storhøi, known for Zwei Leben - Two Lives - 2012), runs the facility in Rjukan, unique in the world to produce heavy water. As it was a byproduct of fertilizer production, its production was limited and on a small scale. While the Norwegians remained neutral in World War II, France made an agreement with the company to acquire the entire stock of heavy water. But with the invasion of Norway by the Germans, on the morning of April 9, 1940, Norsk Hydro started to meet the Nazi interests in obtaining the precious liquid. To Henriksen the war would be something temporary, so it would be important to keep the jobs and company's business intact.

To give more excitement and make the story more dramatic some fictional characters were drafted, but that did not come to interfere significantly in the actual events that occurred. Among them we can mention Bjørn Henriksen, which was created from three real directors of Norsk Hydro, and his wife, Ellen Henriksen (played by Maibritt Saerens, known for Sykt Lykkelig - Happy Happy - 2010), who also was not part of the original plot, but was responsible for addressing some dilemmas of the couple apart from the moral issues of the war.

Another fictional character is Julie Smith (played by Anna Friel, known for the TV series Pushing Daisies - 2007-2009), who gives life to a British official responsible for the British Special Operations. Here we have to highlight a historical mistake, because in real life the role was played by Scottish Colonel John Skinner Wilson. At that time there were no women occupying the position of command in the army. Despite the good performance of Friel, it would be more appropriate to stick to historical and real facts (put a man) instead of opting for the politically correct of the current times.

The film's director Per-Olav Sørensen depicts in a chronological and historical way the events surrounding the dispute by heavy water. It is noted along the mini-series all the characterization work of an era: uniforms, clothes, cars, equipments and weapons. One bright spot was the maintenance of the three native languages ​​of the countries involved in the plot: Norwegian, German and English. Sørensen also knew how to choose the cast, who gave convincing performances.

The photography is very beautiful and the soundtrack fits well in the plot. However, the director of the mini-series does not do enough to explore more some action scenes and he also could have created more suspense. The rigorous living conditions to which the members of the Norwegian resistance were submitted in missions due to the harsh climate of Norway, as hunger and cold, as well as other difficulties faced when fighting the enemy would have been better dramatized.

This story was also dramatized in a Norwegian docudrama called Kampen om Tungtvannet (Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water - 1948), in a British production The Heroes of the Telemark (1965), with the participation of Kirk Douglas (citing some of his films: Ace in the Hole - 1951, Paths of Glory - 1957, The Vikings - 1958 and Spartacus - 1960) and Richard Harris (known for A Man Called Horse - 1970) and a Canadian TV mini-series (A Man Called Intrepid - 1979). The Swedish power metal band, Sabaton, also honored this episode through the music called Saboteurs.

Original title: Kampen om Tungtvannet

English title: The Heavy Water War: Stopping Hitler's Atomic Bomb

Director: Per-Olav Sørensen

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280150/

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Risttuules (2014) - Review in english

75 years ago, in the early hours of June 14, 1941, more than 40,000 people were deported from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. That was the beginning of mass banishments to Siberia and other remote regions of the USSR promoted by the Soviet authorities. Under secret orders of Stalin, this operation was aimed to remove dissidents of the socialist regime from their home countries to quell any opposition, and promote ethnic cleansing of the region. Among these thousands of deportees was Erna Tamm (Laura Peterson) and his family (daughter and husband). The movie Risttuules (original title) or In the Crosswind (in english) was inspired by the letters of Erna written from Siberia to her husband, Heldur (Tarmo Song), from whom she was separated by the Soviets.

In his first movie, the estonian director Martti Helde was bold in its proposal: to make an art film, in black and white, through the technique of tableaux vivants, to photographically recreate the memories described in the letters. As opposed to the traditional cinematographic narrative, the tableaux vivant makes use of static shot, in which the characters stand still as the camera slowly travels through the environment. The observed time is frozen, allowing us to focus the subtle details of each scene as well as the expressions of the actors and their body language. Everything leads us to believe that we are facing a common photographic representation, which is only denied by the wind moving some objects, such as clothing, branches and leaves or sheets of paper. The voiceover of Laura Peterson complements the recreation of those memories describing events and the feelings of the protagonist.

Erna Tamm led a normal and happy life with her family until the war came into their lives. To portray this radical and abrupt change the time started to elapse in another dimension, being marked by the composition of tableaux vivants images. And it remained so until the end of this tragic and distressing period in the life of the protagonist, when the war came to an end. Throughout this journey we take notes of the Soviet cruelties, with the deportees being transferred in inhumane conditions inside animal wagons, suffering humiliations, being subjected to forced labor, hunger, cold, aside from the lost of relatives, friends and above all, their freedom. The soundtrack and ambient sounds help to characterize the mourning atmosphere and the melancholy of the film: almost all hope was lost.

The human tragedy experienced by the inhabitants of the Baltic countries resulted in more than 590,000 victims of the holocaust during the Soviet occupation. With the break up of the USSR, Russia, its successor, aside from maintaining a rhetoric that denies the crimes committed, even glorifies the Soviet past, its leaders, symbols and actions.

Aesthetically impeccable, made to be contemplated, as every work of art is intended to be, and with a slow pace, In the Crosswind is definitely not a film for the general public. The way it is narrated flee from the ordinary way and might not please everyone, causing strangeness and monotony in some viewers. Far beyond the story that is intended to be told, the film provides an unique sensory experience that is at the same time sad but beautiful.

Original title: Risttuules
English title: In the Crosswind
Director: Martti Helde
www.imdb.com/title/tt2534660/

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Under Sandet (2015) - Review in english

Several World War II stories are not told in the books, being forgotten over time. Inspired by true events, the film Under Sandet (original title) or Land of Mine (in english) addresses one of these reports, which occurred in Denmark after the war. Fearing that a possible Allied invasion would take place from the Danish coast, Nazi Germany filled the entire length of Denmark's west coast with over 1.5 million mines. With the german surrender and the end of the war in May 1945, more than 2,000 german prisoners of war were sent to disarm those landmines. The story focuses on a small group of young germans who have the hard and dangerous task of clearing 45,000 mines from a danish beach to gain freedom.

The film, written and directed by Martin Zandvliet, is an excellent motion picture, managing to bring to the screen a work with a new approach, although all the other war films ever made before. With an original script, the director succeeds to convey the bitterness brought by five years of Nazi occupation in Denmark. He also portrays the exploitation of children dragged into war. One of the great successes of Zandvliet's direction and script is to show the war cycles: the winners, the danes, start to adopt the brutal practices of the losers, the germans. It was precisely for situations like this that the Second World War broke out. France and other winning countries of World War required repairs and imposed absurd sanctions to Germany.

The photography, by Camilla Hjelm, is to behold. And here, again, we have to highlight the director's work. The use of long shot captures the beautiful danish landscape, while more intimate moments allow us to monitor the interactions among those soldiers. Maintaining an intense pace, the tranquility and vastness of the beach are contrasted, at all times, with the danger that awaits them "under the sand", expression that names the film. The soundtrack is catchy and at times heartbreaking, fitting in the drama narrated in the film.

One of the elements that makes Land of Mine a memorable experience is the excellent performance of Roland Møller, playing the role of Sergeant Carl Rasmussen, protagonist of the story. Responsible to oversee the group of german soldiers, Carl struggle to separate his military duties from the hatred he feels for the old enemy. The actor delivered a complex character, moody, bitter and angry, but at the same time which has not lost humanity that exists within him. The rest of the cast was also well chosen and psychologically developed, in which the actors who play the soldiers have different personalities.

With a philosophical discussion about military conflicts as well as being very intense and beautiful, Under Sandet gives us a real view of the complexities of the Second World War and human behavior.

PS: the original trailer has some spoilers. If you are interested in seeing this movie, I suggest not watching it.


Original title: Under Sandet

English title: Land of Mine

Director: Martin Zandvliet

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3841424/

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