Arctic is a must see film if you love Mads Mikkelsen, people in danger in the wild and a wintry wilderness shot in location in Iceland, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It is a story about a pilot who is trying to determine the best course of action given his circumstances when an unexpected event makes him have to reassess his priorities.
I loved that Arctic started after he was already stranded for quite a bit of time and restricted its focus to the titular locale, which may frustrate viewers who would prefer a more conventional movie with plenty of back story. There is no extraneous exposition or flashbacks. The movie restricts its focus, which I found refreshing. The film oriented us on the passage of time without belaboring the point with a scroll on the bottom of the screen indicating how much time passed. The film showed and didn’t tell. It was simultaneously very intimate and majestic in the way that it used space to tell the story. The camera often depicted Mikkelsen’s character’s point of view or reflected his emotional or psychological state by reducing the focus to a tighter space. It was very judicious in its use of long, medium and close up shots, and I appreciated that the director wisely juggled different approaches to showing his relationship to the landscape. A lot of people mistakenly just think it is sufficient to put the camera down and hope that the landscape will do all the work, but the story and acting are just as strong and work in concert with the visuals.
Mikkelsen is such a good actor that even with very little dialogue (and some subtitles), he says volumes as Overgard. I love that the protagonist is not American, which makes the whole story more believable given the state of the union. Only he could convincingly pair the hardiness, ingenuity and strength to survive with a vulnerable gentleness, delicacy and attention to detail. Mikkelsen provides an appealing image of masculinity that embraces expression of emotion and nurturing. In the interest of full disclosure, I have been watching his movies for a long time, but only realized late in the game that he is hot because he is such a good character actor. I notice talent first then looks. So while Arctic may not display him at his finest, let’s just say that I appreciated more than the view of the landscape. Save him! He is hot!
Arctic is what I wanted The Mountain Between Us to be without the eye roll worthy emotional melodrama. There was one cheap jump scare, but damn it, even though I saw it coming, I jumped anyway and freaked the frack out so it worked. Agee, you’re a magnificent actor. You got me! Even though I had seen one preview and kind of was waiting to arrive at that point, I had no idea how the movie would get there so that was a gut punch moment. I adored the movie because it is more about one character and who he truly is as a person regardless of his surroundings. Just like you shouldn’t rationalize or excuse other people’s bad behavior, his good behavior triumphs regardless of how extreme conditions are or his objective relationship with reality. In the absence of anyone’s judgment, he is free to act in any manner that he sees fit, and he makes the right choices.
Arctic surprised me by transcending the typical survival movie. It becomes a movie about what is the part of you that should survive and highlights the difference between living and surviving. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? There was never a moment when I disapproved of Overgard’s actions so when he is extremely repentant for taking an action that I considered reasonable, it finally hammered home the subtle moral point of the movie, which I think that some people missed based on reading other reviews.
If you think of the landscape as a more textured allegory, a kind of Pilgrim’s Progress type landscape filled with temptations and pitfalls instead of seeing it like The Revenant as nature piles on in a naturalistic stab at torture porn, Arctic’s story makes more sense. The movie is a challenge to viewers not to get accustomed to the small comforts that routine offers in the face of great hardship, but the willingness to strike out and even lose one’s life to achieve life more abundantly. It is an incredibly Christian movie in the Jesus sense of the word, but humanists in the vein of Gene Roddenberry can appreciate it as a secular parable about the potential for selflessness in humanity.
If I seem purposely evasive about giving too many details about the story, I am. Arctic is definitely better on the big screen and arriving at the theater with as few expectations and information as possible. The viewer should feel as immersed in the story as Overgaard is in his situation and experience the same uncertainty. In the security and comfort of your own home with the ability to pause, take breaks and multitask, home viewing would detract from the film. It would literally and figuratively feel smaller.
I’m not familiar with Joe Penna, but Arctic is his first feature film. It is a promising and ambitious start, especially considering that nature has overwhelmed more experienced directors. I normally despise allegories, but this one snuck up on me and left me feeling rescued from the bleak overcast morality of reality. A must see, uplifting film suitable for all viewers with occasional profanity.