Directed by:
Thomas VinterbergScreenplay:
Robert RodatCinematography:
Anthony Dod MantleComposer:
Alexandre DesplatCast:
Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux, Colin Firth, Peter Simonischek, Magnus Millang, Max von Sydow, Artemiy Spiridonov, August Diehl, Bjarne Henriksen (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Based on the story of the 2000 Kursk submarine disaster, Kursk follows the final hours of an “unsinkable” Russian nuclear submarine as it sinks to the bottom of the Barents Sea. Some of the crew survives the initial explosion, including officer Mikhail Kalekov, whose pregnant wife and child are waiting back home. Unfortunately, their rescue is complicated by bureaucracy between Russia, France, Norway and Britain, with British navy chief David Russell attempting to convince Russian officials to accept foreign aid. (EuropaCorp USA)
(more)Videos (4)
Reviews (10)
I remember the TV coverage of the disaster and the film captures it faithfully, including the injection of a sedative to one of the distraught mothers. Anyway, one thing is clear from the film: if something similar happened to any of the NATO armies that the local Putin trolls spit on as much as they can, their leadership might break ranks to save these boys. But the Russian military leadership has a different yardstick, the ‘there’s plenty of us’ rule. In Russia, human life has never been worth anything, ever since the Battle of Stalingrad, when they deployed young unarmed boys to the front lines with firing squads at their backs. As Papa Stalin used to say: “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.” Russia, a land of unlimited possibilities...
()
Movies about submarines usually bore me, which fortunately I can't say about The Command. Vinterberg managed to record the infamous story of a great human tragedy, for which the Russian Admiralty is to blame, quite comprehensively and very realistically. I was infinitely distressed at the thought of how all those young men must have felt as they deliberately waited for death in a badly damaged submarine. Their families, losing their last vestiges of hope with each passing hour after the accident, probably need not be mentioned. Matthias Schoenaerts fought for survival at the bottom of the Barents Sea so fiercely and convincingly that I secretly hoped for his rescue. (80%)
()
The sailor characters could have been further developed other than through clichéd family ties to their wives and children, but the admirals on the surface richly compensate for that with their varied motivations and political backgrounds. Colin Firth is as well suited to the captain character as Tom Hanks. Not to mention the communist Soviet admiral played by Max von Sidow, who turns in a goosebump-inducing performance. The casting in general is very well done here; I hadn’t realised until now how much Schoenaerts and Seydoux have “Russian faces”. But what I appreciate most about Kursk is its thematic balance and complexity. To the same extent that Kursk is about the tragedy of men under water, it is also about the political conflict above the surface and the absurdity of the Soviets’ approach to the event. It’s about a rotten system that betrayed its own people because of false ideas. The second Chernobyl in 14 years. The film gains its key value from the skirting of the story through a young boy, the son of one of the submariners, and his understanding of the situation and his reaction to it.
()
We haven’t had this good of a submarine film since K-19. It's 100% impressive depressing drama... Especially when it gives the sailors and their families little hope that everything can turn out good after all. And you wish for it with them. However, probably every viewer knows how the events really played out, and that's why those scenes are so strong. Admittedly, I didn't expect much from The Command, but I ended up sitting in the movie theatre and not moving, filled with tension and feeling pretty miserable during the end credits. It is shot great (the directing and camera use the claustrophobic environment to the maximum and, for example, the quest for oxygen is unforgettable), Alexander Desplat's music did not disappoint and for me, the unknown actors - Colin Firth or Max von Sydow - give very believable performances.
()
The portrayal of the character of the sailors is poor and two-dimensional, even in the tense “it’s not there” moments. The portrayal of the life in a submarine and the accident is, on the other hand, brilliant. It’s dark, claustrophobic, chilling and without pathos. Vinterberg successfully reconstructs an historical event about the life and death of the sailors of a nuclear submarine and the main thing missing is, paradoxically, a bit of life and energy.
()
Ads