The Burning Sea (Anderson, 2021)
In disappointing news for Kiwi subscribers, there won’t be a Scandinavian Film Festival this year. The organisers are putting their efforts into the forthcoming French Film Festival (29 May‑5 July) and the UK and Ireland Film Festival which will come along in the second half of the year.
The 2022 edition was a lot of fun and there was at least one absolute banger – eco-thriller The Burning Sea.
I reviewed it for RNZ in advance of that 2022 festival season:
You may already know that for more than 50 years, Norway has been one of the most oil rich countries in the world, hundreds of rigs in the North Sea producing millions of barrels of crude turning Norwegians into one of the most prosperous nations on Earth. For the last few years, they have been dedicated to using that oil wealth to try and transition away from fossil fuels – the subject of that great TV series Occupied – and The Burning Sea is a vivid and spectacular example of why that is a good thing.
Sofia (Kristine Kujath Thorp) is an expert developer and pilot of submersible robot technology for the inspection of rigs, wavering on whether to move in with her rig worker boyfriend Stian (Henrik Bjelland) and his adorable son Odin (Nils Elias Olsen). One day unexpected seismic subsidence damages one of the platforms and Sofia’s inspection reveals that the problem is much more widespread than just that one – the whole shelf is now unstable due to the number of holes that have been dug over the last few decades and vast amounts of oil are about to burst through the sea bed causing an environmental (and human) catastrophe.
While the authorities manage to evacuate all the workers, Stian stays behind to manually close one valve, and when Sofia learns this, of course, she has to go and get him. All the while the seismic situation is going from bad to worse.
It’s tense on every level – geophysical and interpersonal – and I was particularly happy to see a film where problems get solved by knowledge, professionalism and technology (notwithstanding that the problems had probably been caused by knowledge, professionalism and technology in the first place).
In the early parts of the film, there are some telling background details showing how Norway is transitioning away from fossil fuels – a huge coastal windfarm, an electric taxi – and the message is clear that it’s almost too late.
Also in that April 2022 column, Diana’s Wedding (not available for streaming in any of the territories I track), and wacky comedy The Jonsson Gang (Beamafilm from participating New Zealand libraries). That’s an indication of why these festivals are so important – most of these films just disappear.
Where to watch The Burning Sea
Aotearoa: Digital rental from AroVision or Apple
Australia: Streaming on SBS On Demand
Canada: Streaming on Prime Video
Ireland: Digital rental from Apple, Google or Sky
USA: Streaming on Hulu
UK: Digital rental from the usual outlets
