Is it the subtitles, the Norwegian-ness, that make the The Wave (Bølgen), seem more ‘art house’ than disaster flick? For this film certainly isn’t Twister, and it most definitely isn’t Armageddon, which are said to be director Roar Uthaug’s inspirations. Thank goodness for that. The movie was Norway’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Academy Awards (it did not receive a nomination), and it has a lot of merit. For one thing, there’s a historical hook: Norway is prone to avalanches and rock slides. For another, the glitteringly pristine Northern scenery takes your breath away. The camera skims over sparkling fjords, sweeps between craggy walls of snow-capped rock, and shows us little chocolate-boxy villages that make us wince with longing.
This is the land of midnight sun, and the strange twilight contributes to the sense of impending doom. So do the grumbles that come from deep in the mountains’ guts, and sound more like dragon than geological creak. Uthaug ups the stakes by painting a sweet picture of a loving family—the wife (Ane Dahl Torp) is caring and pretty, her geologist husband (Kristoffer Joner) is handsome. All the preciousness of human life settles on their little girl who has freckles and trusting eyes. A sticky end for her would feel positively distasteful.
Special effects have become so silly in recent years. Who buys those splitting skies and crumpling skylines? But the effects here are far more convincing. To boot, the actors performed their own stunts, which meant—for one particularly heart-pounding scene— Joner trained to hold his breath for three whole minutes!
Should You See It? Yes. In the disaster genre, it’s a breath of blisteringly clean (Scandinavian) air.
Viewed at Landmark Tivoli Theatr