Narvik: Hitler's First Defeat

For any Norwegian familiar with the major events of the 20th century in the country's History, the battle of Narvik is all but an obscure reference. It is already a widely famous event even before films like this one. As such, Kampen om Narvik could not even claim to tell the story of a very obscure, yet how decisive battle for a Norwegian audience: the Norwegian audience is very much aware already! It cannot pretend either it was not intending to be the new national blockbuster following the great "Max Manus" (2008), having seen its release postponed over and over again for 2 years, undoubtedly so as to ensure an optimal attendance (its budget was approximately 80 million NOK, about 8 million US dollars, which is A LOT for a film in a language spoken by only a little over 5 millions). The result? A disappointing film where it is unclear if the goal was to tell the story of the historical event or a local family's story and dilemmas. Either way, none of these goals was achieved as the movie doesn't seem to be doing either fully. For starter, the events and chronology of the fierce battle were heavily truncated, oversimplified and illustrated in a way that truly couldn't hide the budget limitations. We get to see half a dozen of French soldiers in the tiny, messy and uncoordinated skirmishes depicted but where are the remaining 25994 soldiers of the Allied expeditionary troops? Where are the Germans, retreating nearly to the Swedish border, close to a total collapse at the moment of the sudden troop withdrawal (Operation Alphabet) caused by the news of the invasion of France, with the German commander fleeing to a tiny house just a couple kilometers away from the Swedish border, which they would have had to cross soon enough and surrender? That's the kind of stories worth telling. And guess what, that battle was full of them, and they are not even expensive scenes. Last but not least, the film's main characters: the Tofte family. Here too, we have a problem. Several bold choices were made, but none of them was fully assumed. Interesting dilemmas (collaboration for one's family's sake, active resistance, the impossibility to forgive a terrible act committed by someone dear...) were erased and rendered null by nextcoming scene. Difficult, also, to really feel concerned by some of these characters' wherabouts and misadventures as very little emotion transpires on the actors' faces, which can maybe be true to the Northern Norwegian fierce attitude at the time, being used to having to deal with a very harsh lifestyle, but is also certainly truly difficult to relate to for the audience. Bottom line, I had great expectations for this historical event many books have been written about and knew its potential for film adaptation. Alas, I must say that a good depiction of the events still remains to be made to this day.

I knew nothing about the city of Narvik or the battle that took place there in northern Norway at the beginning of World War II in 1940. So as a basic primer I learned something new. Germany attacked Narvik because it was a transit hub for iron ore that came from Sweden. Briefly the Norwegians were aided by the French and the British resulting in the first defeat of the war for Germany. But the victory was short-lived after the allies were forced to withdraw following Germany's subsequent victories on the European continent. A fair number of internet posters criticized the film for its unrealistic depictions of the battle itself and focusing on a fictional story about two young parents and their five-year-old son caught up in the fog of war. Given obvious budget limitations, the focus is on one troop of intrepid Norwegian soldiers. The conflict however was huge, and the complaint was that the battle (which lasted a few months) was reduced to a limited and rather unimpressive engagement. Nonetheless, despite the limited nature of these action scenes, I found myself wanting to see what happens next. The protagonist, Corporal Gunnar Tofte (Carl Martin Eggsbe), is tasked with blowing up a strategic bridge which proved gripping at the beginning of the second act. Meanwhile, wife Ingrid (Kristine Hartgen) is trying to protect her son Ole (Christoph Gelfert) from British air raids while ministering to the occupying German forces as their interpreter. Particularly interesting are Ingrid's dealings with the German counsul Fritz Wussow (Christoph Bach) who is bent on finding a couple of British diplomats hidden by Ingrid up in the mountains. She brings them the locations of German artillery positions which they radio to British ships which have entered the harbor at Narvik. After Gunnar Is captured by the Germans with the knowledge that he was instrumental in blowing up the bridge Ingrid asks Wussow to intercede on Gunnar's behalf with the German commander. I assume the intervention was successful as Gunnar is not executed right away but condemned to work at hard labor lugging supplies through the snow. Gunnar's subsequent escape and successful assault on a German position in which a huge cannon is destroyed proves to be another exciting action sequence. The most dramatic moment in the film occurs when Ingrid decides to tell the Germans about the hidden Brits so that a doctor can treat little Ole after he sustains a shrapnel wound that becomes infected following a British air raid. There are some "holier than thou" people here who condemned Ingrid for allegedly betraying her country in order to save her son but it's not the same as (for example) when the neighbors of Anne Frank turned her into the Nazis later during the war. It's also understandable that initially Gunnar saw Ingrid as a traitor after all the sacrifices he made during his encounters with the Germans. But he came to his senses and realized that as a mother Ingrid's only concern was for the life of her child. The family story here was the right way to go despite disagreements from those who were looking for more historical accuracy. Had the focus just been on the battle scenes, this would have then become more of a docudrama or even a full-blown documentary. Narvik understandably doesn't have much time for character development but there's enough action to keep action aficionados satisfied. The performances are all top-notch with additional praise for Kristine Hartgen as the beleaguered mom.

I read somewhere that the budget of this movie was big, but it didn't show. There were some remote CGI ships on fire, but most of the battle scenes had surprisingly few people. The French saviours was a group of three soldiers, and a battle was simply won by taking out one, single machine gun station. Also, this 110 minute long minute movie had way too many story lines, many felt a little "spur of the moment" thinking on the set, "just to make it a little more interesting". My main take about this movie going out of the movie theatre was probably that I didn't really believe the main take of it. Sure, I have read about the real events of Narvik in 1940, which must have been terrible for the people living there. Plenty of drama to be had without making up one.

This movie deserves 5 stars. It is watchable from beginning to end, but won't bring you anything more and forgettable with little to no value to talk about with those who have watched it too. The battle for Norway of course was a note worthy, but seldom spoken of part of history as far as the timeline during the Second World War. This movie did little justice to bring any change to that. The acting was fine from many of the main charactures, namely Kristine Hartgen, who played Ingrid Tofte. On an equal note, some of the acting seemed to be done by members taken from an after work/school acting club i.e. At least they knew not to look directly at the camera. I can also say the cinematography was beautiful and location settings were superb. Unfortunately, where so many movies with great effects and stunning shots fall short, the story. The plot is the same as so many films which have come before, it is almost a clichè; likely so that they have something to begin filming with as quickly as possible and quite frankly, with a story line so unoriginal, you would think they might be able to get it right, or at least create it in such a way you can admire the finer details they put in. Not here though. On a plus, which does deserve credit, the Germans were German, the Norweigens were Norweigen, the British were British and the French were French. So, if you have found yourself scrolling for an eternity, mindlessly trying to find something to watch and about to give up, consider giving this movie a go... or don't, you will have missed nothing.

A small form of World War 2 movie from Norway that has a different story from the real history of the battlefield where Hitler was first defeated. It focuses on the story of innocent civilians in Narvik who suffer the karma of the German-British war. Whereas Germany did its best to protect its citizens in times of war. While the British continued to attack the city until there were many victims. Which is different from the image of other movies in the past, and although we know at the end that Germany has lost But this isn't the real ending. There are more profound stories and great tragedies after that. Which the film ends with the facts very perfectly and is at the heart of this whole story.

If you like films that contain misleading titles, bad acting, bad characterisation, bad fictional military set pieces, revisionism, woke "look, its a bit like the situation in Ukraine" analogies, utterly bewildering attempts at writers justifying characters to be actual traitors.... If all that sounds good to you... then you are in for a real treat! Featuring all the action the historical battle could have inspired but crammed into about 12 mins of shoddy set pieces and you know what to expect. "Feelings", women being "STRONG" and Skjoldbjærg who clearly wanted to rip off Dunkirk/Nolan but instead falling flat in this turd of an attempt at movie making. Lazy trash.