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Kursk (2018)

Director:
Thomas Vinterberg

COUNTRY
Belgium/France/
Luxembourg

Genre
Disaster/Drama

NORWEGIAN TITLE
Kursk

RUNNING TIME
117 minutes

Producer:
Ariel Zeitoun
Patrick Vandenbosch
Christophe Toulemonde
Fabrice Delville
Jérôme de Béthune

Screenwriter:
Robert Rodat


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Captain-Lieutenant Mikhail Averin Matthias Schoenaerts ½
Tanya Averina Léa Seydoux
Misha Averin Artemiy Spiridonov ½
Commodore David Russell Colin Firth
Admiral Andrey Grudzinsky Peter Simonischek
Anton Markov August Diehl -
Admiral Petrenko Max von Sydow

Captain Nikitin

Bjarne Henriksen -
Captain Gennady Shirokov Martin Brambach -
Oleg Lebedev Magnus Millang -
Pavel Sonin Matthias Schweighöfer -
Executive Officer Alexander Grekov Peter Plaugborg -
Lieutenant Bruce Hamil John Hollingworth -
Graham Mann Steven Waddington -
Leo Joel Basman -
Aksana Pernilla August -
Counter-Admiral Mikhail Denisov Gustaf Hammarsten -

 

Review

The story of the accident aboard the Russian submarine Kursk and the ensuing failed rescue attempts by the Russians is handled with apparent disaster genre inclinations by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (Jagten). The traditional structure of building up character relations and setting the stage for the inevitable catastrophe does stir up a fair amount of emotion and engrossment, but the film is a little too hinged on predictable good/bad guys dichotomy and a somewhat archaic view on the east/west axis. Fine performances from Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux and Peter Simonischek elevate the drama, whereas Max von Sydow is clearly too old in what turned out to be his final film role. The screenplay was written by Robert Rodat, penner of Saving Private Ryan.

Copyright © 31.01.2022 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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