When it comes to disaster movies, California has its earthquakes, the Midwest has its twisters, and Norway has rockslides into the fjord. KPBS film critic Beth Accomando reviews the Norwegian disaster film The Wave. You know how pop songs sound less cheesy when they’re not in English, well Hollywood tropes feel less familiar reimagined by a foreign filmmaker. Such is the case with the Norwegian disaster film The Wave that serves up a spectacularly gorgeous tourist spot nestled in the mountains and on the edge of a fjord. But danger is lurking and of course only one person has the sense to realize it. CLIP Alarm The Wave emphasizes the scale of nature and serves up a scruffy Norwegian version of Charleton Heston, who can’t get people to heed his warning about a massive rockslide brewing as the substrata shift. The film delivers on genre thrills and effects but keeps the drama more down to earth. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
When it comes to disaster movies, California has its earthquakes, the Midwest has its twisters, and Norway has rockslides into the fjord. "The Wave" (opening March 4 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) serves up an art house disaster movie.
You know how pop songs sound less cheesy when they’re not in English? Well Hollywood tropes feel less familiar reimagined by a foreign filmmaker. Such is the case with the Norwegian disaster film "The Wave" that serves up a spectacularly gorgeous tourist spot nestled in the mountains and on the edge of a fjord. But danger is lurking and of course only one person has the sense to realize it.
"The Wave" opens with news reports over the past 100 years about the dangers and disasters that have occurred and might in Norway, in terms of huge mountains breaking apart.
Then we are taken to Geiranger, a spectacular tourist destination overlooked by the Åkerneset mountain. But, just as people in California live with the constant knowledge that "the big one" is coming, these villagers face the threat of Åkerneset collapsing into the fjord, which would then cause a kind of tidal wave (can fjords have tidal waves?).
Kristian (Kristoffer Joner), a geologist, has been working at Geiranger's warning center for years and has just accepted a better paying gig at an oil company. But just as he's ready to move so too is the substrata. He senses something's wrong but just like all those scientists or firemen, no one wants to heed his warning.
Director Roar Uthaug emphasizes the scale of nature and gives us a scruffy Norwegian version of Charleton Heston in Kristian, who can’t get people to heed his warning about a massive rockslide brewing as the substrata shift.
The film delivers on genre thrills and effects but keeps the drama more down to earth. The film also gets in an environmental, public service announcement warning at the end about the real-life dangers that exist in Norway now.
Watch "The Wave" trailer.
