KURSK aka THE COMMAND (2018) - Movie Review

Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux, Peter Simonischek, August Diehl, Max von Sydow, Colin Firth
Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure
Writer: Robert Rodat
Runtime: 117 min
Rated: PG-13 for some intense disaster-related peril and disturbing images, and for brief strong language
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

On Aug. 12, 2000, explosions aboard the Russian submarine Kursk cause it to sink during a naval exercise in the Barents Sea, leaving 23 survivors trapped below on the ocean floor. For the next seven days, members of a rescue team frantically work to reach the men before their dwindling oxygen supply runs out. The film follows the 2000 K-141 Kursk submarine disaster and the governmental negligence that followed. As the sailors fight for survival, their families desperately battle political obstacles and impossible odds to save them.

Review:

The Kursk tragedy is one of the most painful memories in Russian naval history. Not only beacuse of the 118 men who died on board, but because at least 23 of them could have been saved had it not been for the incompetence of Russian officials, who cared more about politics than saving their own, refusing aid from the West until it was too late. Acclaimed director Thomas Vinterberg ("The Hunt", "Another Round") reunites with his "Far from the Madding Crowd" star Matthias Schoenaerts for "Kursk", (aka "Kursk: The Last Mission" in the UK and "The Command" in the US), a respectful and authentic docudrama with a great cast.

The movie opens with one of the crewmember's wedding. The scenes echo "The Deer Hunter" in the way it quickly and efficiently establishes the main characters before they are thrown into the unthinkable. Schoenaerts stars as Mikhail Averin, the commanding officer of the Kursk, and Lea Seydoux plays his wife, Tanya Averina. Other crewmembers are played by Magnus Millang ("Another Round"), August Diehl ("Inglorious Basterds", "A Hidden Life"), and Matthias Schweighöfer ("Army of the Dead", "Army of Thieves").

Don't be alarmed by the movie's opening cropped aspect, it's intentional. Vinterberg portrays the scenes that take place on land in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, which eventually opens out to 2.35:1 once the submarine gers underway. I suppose it's meant to be symoblic of something in the way it uses the more claustrophobic aspect ratio on land, and the wider one for the underwater scenes, except it's also wide when the movie's perspective switches between the men's families struggling to get answers from the authorities, the Russian navy's futile rescue efforts, and the struggles of British Royal Navy officer David Russell (Colin Firth) to convince the Russians to allow them to assist in the rescue operations. The narrow aspect ratio makes a return in the film's final scenes. Whatever meaning it's supposed to convey is lost on me, and I suspect a lot viewers probably feel the same.

The movie boasts decent production values in recreating the horrible disaster, and plenty of tense scenes on the Kursk, even though we already know how it ends. Many have tried to compare this movie to "Das Boot", but that's unfair, mostly because it's not a war movie, but a survival drama, with a lot of the focus shifting away from the submarine crew to the world above, where the absurdity of bureaucracy and a Russia stuck in Cold War paranoia sealed the sailors' fate. In fact, some of the strongest scenes are the ones filled with the suffocating indignation of watching the Russian navy struggling to mount a rescue with inadequate equipment, while the sailors' families are shamelessly lied to and spun by the Russian authorities.

Adpted from journalist Robert Moore's book "A Time to Die" by screenwriter Robert Rodat ("Saving Private Ryan", "The Patriot"), the film is mostly faithful to the events, but it does, obviously, need to speculate a lot about the experiences of the Kursk's crew during the horrifying ordeal. Ironically, the filmmakers try so hard to be respectful and understated that they undermine the film's dramatic impact. Don't get me wrong, it's great that Vinterberg avoids sensationalism, but it's a tough balancing act, and unfortunately the movie doesn't quite stick the landing. While the end result is appropriately grim and poignant, it still feels like it could have used a little more punch. I couldn't help but compare this with the HBO miniseries "Chernobyl", a comparison that unfortunately doesn't favor Vinterberg's movie.

"Kursk" aka "The Command" is still a movie worth watching, mainly because it's a story that deserves a lot more attention. Overall, it's a bit of a missed opportunity, but it is a good movie with solid performances across the board.

SCORE: 7.5/10