Pioneer (7/10)
by Tony Medley
Runtime 100 minutes.
OK for children.
This is a thriller set in the midst of what happened in the early ‘80’s
when Norway discovered huge oil and gas reserves. Not knowing how to
make the best of them, they decided to build a pipeline on the ocean
floor at a depth of 500 meters.
The protagonist is Petter (Aksel Hennie), a deep sea diver along with
his brother. When his brother dies on the first dive, Petter is angry
and suspicious that it was not an accident and goes snooping around to
find the true cause of his death.
Director Erik Skjolbjærg knows how to
create a claustrophobic setting and he gets first class performances
from his cast. The movie starts out with a test of the divers in a
cylinder that increases the pressure on them up to the 500 meters at
which they will be diving. The physical discomfort shown by the crew is
palpable.
But that’s a small part of the movie. The main story is about Petter
trying to uncover what really happened when he and his brother were sent
into the depths. While the story turns out to be contrived with several
plot holes, the film is done well enough that it holds interest until
just before the ending. In Norwegian and English.
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