![]() ![]() If you can imagine any catastrophe associated with snowy mountains in brutal winter weather, he went through it - snow blindness, avalanches, frostbite, gangrene. It didn't get better for Baalsrud for months. After he climbed onto the shore, his uniform froze solid and encased his body in ice. All of his colleagues were killed, but Baalsrud managed to leap overboard, losing one boot, and swim through the icy waters of the fjord to land, pursued on sea and on land by enemy soldiers. ![]() His fishing smack was intercepted by a German patrol boat and sunk. Jan Baalsrud in 1943 was a Norwegian commando involved in running guns from the Shetland Islands to the Norwegian resistance fighters. For the most part, the treatment is pretty matter-of-fact (and no less effective for that) with the only stylistic flourishes on display being the intermittent fast cutting whenever impending danger ensues, the repeated panning suggesting the upward direction of the flight and a striking ellipsis that goes from a man picking up the receiver to 'rat' on the hero and his comrades to a ship's cannon firing at their boat however, there is also some confusion here as well: they are shown being shot at as they reach land – presumably in a flashforward – followed by them still out at sea! For the record, this might well be the first Norwegian film I have watched and, as far as I know, the only other one I own is the intriguing horror film LAKE OF THE DEAD (1958). In fact, the title is a specific reference to Baalsrud's feline-like penchant for survival against all odds: going snowblind hacking off his own frostbitten toes being literally entombed in snow for several weeks, etc. Despite the inherent danger to themselves, the local communities (especially a young family and an elderly schoolteacher) he comes in contact with all go out of their way to help the heroic fugitive. Soon enough, our protagonist is on the run from the Nazis while facing the harsh natural elements of the Norwegian snowscape. The film starts with the dispatching of Jan Baalsrud's ten comrades-in-arms during a skirmish with a German patrol boat. While the film's title and heritage might suggest a historical chronicle of some tragic national expedition, the story actually deals with a real-life WWII manhunt for a Norwegian spy – engaged with the English forces on an obscure sabotage mission of which he is the only survivor – on his way to sanctuary in neutral Sweden. Incredibly enough, Ingmar Bergman's art-house phenomenon THE SEVENTH SEAL was unsuccessfully submitted for Oscar consideration! Incidentally, NINE LIVES was also entered in that year's Cannes Film Festival where it rubbed shoulders with (among others) Mikhail Kalatazov's eventual Palme D'Or winner THE CRANES ARE FLYING, Jacques Tati's MON ONCLE (1958) and prestigious Hollywood fare like THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (1958) and THE LONG HOT SUMMER (1958). The first two Best Foreign Language Film Oscars ever awarded were both won by Italy, through Federico Fellini, for LA STRADA (1954 awarded in 1956) and NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957) the other nominees competing against the latter emanated from France (Rene' Clair's GATES OF Paris), two I plan on catching up with presently (from India, Mehboob's MOTHER India and, from Germany, Robert Siodmak's THE DEVIL STRIKES AT NIGHT) and, from Norway, the film under review. This is really a splendid effort from Norway. ![]() Remarkable sequences:the hallucinations,the hero sees a woman ,then a neon reading "GRAND HOTEL" while he is lost in a white hell all these humble people who risk their life for their compatriot,particularly the woman and her baby and the good old grandpa the "resurrection " when Jan rose from the snow,like a Nordic Lazarus the final rein deers stampede. The film is so intense that we often "feel "the hero's sufferings. After all his companions have been killed or captured ,the hero begins a long odyssey to get to the Sweden border.Little by little,we realize that the enemy is no longer the Nazis who occupy his homeland :it's the white spaces,the frozen fjords ,the cold,the wolves ,a hostile nature. A resistant fighter ,during WW2,stays in an hospital.He seems seriously wounded.He remembers :the film will consist of a very long flashback. no beast could have done it! (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Guillaumet's words ,in "les Camarades") This famous sentence was on my mind all along the movie, which I had never heard of before and which was a big surprise for me.Once again,thanks to my good IMDb pal,Oystein ,who provided me with one fine work from his native country.I will try and introduce it to my French cinebuffs friends cause it is virtually unfairly unknown over here. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |