Narvik

A film set in northern Norway in April 1940. Narvik is a small port town. Its importance comes from one thing: the iron ore mined in Sweden is loaded onto ships here in winter, and German industry depends on it. One morning the ships arrive. German units occupy the town and the Norwegian army pulls back into the mountains. Gunnar is a corporal. He leaves his wife and son in the town and goes to the front. Ingrid works at the hotel. She knows German and English; when the hotel becomes the German headquarters she stays on as an interpreter. From there the film runs two lines side by side. A company freezing in the mountains, a woman moving between tables in the town. Ingrid's position is the real tension. She begins passing on what she hears and takes a risk every day, for herself and for her son. The Allies arrive. British and French units land, the town is retaken, and this becomes the first land victory won against Germany in the war. Then it is abandoned. Because the front in the west has collapsed the troops are recalled and the town is given up again. What the narrative is interested in is not victory but cost: the film puts at its centre the fact that what was won was left behind soon after. Winter is inside the narrative. Snow, fog and freezing; most of the scenes take place in conditions where nothing can be seen. The production opened in Norway and was released worldwide on Netflix. Kristine Cornelie M. Hartgen, Carl Martin Eggesbø and Christoph Gelfert Mathiesen are in the cast. Erik Skjoldbjærg directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes Nordic war films and less known stories from the front. Who it is not for: anyone expecting battle at large scale; the budget is limited and the narrative mostly runs through two people.