ARCTIC : Tuesday 26th February 2019.

'ARCTIC' is an Icelandic Arctic Circle survival thriller which Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year where it competed for the Camera d'Or, and is Directed and Co-Written by Brazilian musician and filmmaker Joe Penna. Made for just US$2M this film was released in the US on 1st February, has received generally favourable Reviews so far, and has recouped US$1.7M of its Production Budget to date. Filmed over the course of nineteen days in Iceland, Mads Mikkelsen, who is the star of the show here, apart perhaps from the harsh, barren and beautiful snow covered landscape, later commented that it was the most difficult shoot of his career.

The film opens up with a lone figure heavily clad in cold weather gear, digging away in the snow to expose the frozen bedrock below. He works with the handle of a snow sweeper to dislodge large lumps of white rock from beneath the snow surface, to reveal black granite, and then uses the blade of the sweeper to dislodge the snow and shovel it to the side. It's bitter cold, the snow is blowing and he's labouring for breath. He gets to his feet, collects his tools, and walks away. In doing so, the camera pans out revealing the giant black letters carved in the pristine white snow - S O S.

The man walks back to his shelter - the wreckage of an aeroplane that he was obviously a passenger in. There are no other survivors, only him. The plane is beyond any repair, and inside he has set up a temporary home at least out of the elements. Everyday he follows the same routine, setting the alarm on his wrist watch to tell himself when to rest, when to work, when to eat and when to climb up the nearest snow capped hill to wind up his radio transmitter in the hope of reaching someone out there who will hear his distress signal and come to his rescue.

This same routine seems to maintain his sanity as Overgard, his name is printed on his jacket breast, needs to keep busy or succumb to his seemingly dire predicament. He has rigged up various static fishing lines through ice holes in the snow from which he exists on a diet of raw fish, as he has no cooking apparatus, and when he retires for the night it is still daylight outside and he huddles himself down in a zipped up sleeping bag fully clothed from head to toe.

Then one day his fortunes are about to change. Winding away at his radio transmitter, he is about to call it a day as a blizzard approaches when a green light flashes to life on his receiver. As the weather begins to close in, a faint hum of a helicopter can be heard. As it gets nearer, Overgard lights a flare to attract attention, but the approaching helicopter struggles to maintain control in the blizzard conditions. Within two minutes, Overgard's elation at being rescued turns to despair as the helicopter is caught in the fierce wind and spins out of control crashing to the ground in the distance in a plume of black smoke.

Overgard rushes over to the downed chopper. The thing is upside down in the snow with its tail snapped off. Hanging in the cockpit upside down is the dead pilot and one other female passenger (Maria Thelma Smaradottir), still alive, barely. He attends to a deep cut in her stomach using the First Aid kit and staples the wound together. He unbuckles the dead pilot and drags him outside. The pair remain in the cockpit overnight - the woman unconscious, and Overgard sleeping off this traumatic turns of events.

Using the helicopter door as a makeshift sledge Overgard drags the woman back to his place where she will be a little more comfortable and he can attend to her. She remains unconscious. The next day Overgard returns to the helicopter to salvage what he can from the wreckage. There he finds rope, a gas bottle with burner, a cigarette lighter, a tarp, a torch, a map of the terrain, pot noodles and in the tail section of the helicopter is housed a brand new sledge - he can hardly believe his luck! At least now he can make a noodle broth with freshly cooked fish and eat a home cooked meal for he and his patient. The woman slips in and out of consciousness. Overgard studies the map studiously seeking the best most direct route to get to a seasonal shelter several days north of his current location . . . . . and with a badly injured patient.

When a clearing in the weather conditions prevail, Overgard decides to cut his losses and make a bid for civilisation and salvation. Clearing his makeshift camp inside the plane of all equipment that might prove useful, he loads up the sledge packing the woman as comfortably as he can on top, wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag and head gear, covered with the tarp and tied down. As so his journey begins. For the first couple of days Overgard makes good progress, with the fine weather holding up. But progressively the climatic conditions worsen which sees Overgard dig out an ice cave in the snow one night, take refuge in a narrow cave on another only to be attacked by a particularly aggressive and hungry Polar Bear, and shelter behind their upturned sledge in a whiteout on another.

He makes slow but steady progress but reaches an impasse when his path is blocked by a tall rocky outcrop. He clambers to the top to see what is on the other side. Once there, below him the valley stretches out in the distance making for seemingly easy passage for him and his patient, but he must first haul his patient up the steep rocky incline. He is determined, but fails in his attempt, not once, not twice but three times. He then calls it quits and resigns himself to going the long way round which will add another five days at least to his journey time.

And so he beleagueredly makes his way onward. The woman continues to slip in and out of consciousness. One night the pair shelter under a rocky outcrop, and falling asleep, Overgard awakens the next morning to find the woman barley breathing, her stomach wound worsening, and a trickle of blood emanating from her mouth. He believes she is close to death and decides to cover her up, and continue his journey alone. Before he has ventured less that one hundred metres he falls into a crevice in the snow and is knocked out. He comes around with his leg pinned under a boulder.

Struggling to free himself he is all but spent. Giving one last heave ho, he musters what little strength and resilience his has left and yanks his leg free in spite of the agonising pain it causes. He gingerly limps his way out of the crevice to reveal a large bloody gash in his lower leg. He returns to the woman who is still alive and is able to muster the word 'hello' to him. The pair continue their journey once again, with Overgard painstakingly pulling on the sledge with his one good leg while doing it tough with the other.

Later the scenery opens up to reveal greenery and a lake in the distance. There he he sees a helicopter land by the edge of the lake and two airmen get out of it. After a distress flare seemingly does not attract the attention of the helicopter crew, Overgard sets his jacket on fire and holds it aloft waving it about frantically in the hope that they will see that. When the helicopter appears to be flying away and is out of sight, he lies down next to his patient, believing that now all hope is lost. In the closing frames we see the helicopter touching down immediately behind.

Mads Mikkelsen carries the full weight of 'Arctic' on his shoulders, and it pays off. Despite the gruelling nineteen days of principle photography he puts in a compelling performance that might just rank as the best of his career to date. Joe Penna keeps the action and the drama at an even pace in the fairly brisk less than one hundred minute run time, although the trials, tribulations and challenges faced along the way are genre specific that we have seen plenty of times before (and in that I'm thinking 2017's 'The Mountain Between Us'). That said this is worth the price of your ticket for sure to see this bleak harsh unrelenting tale of conviction against the odds, man versus nature, courage overcoming real adversity and the power of the human spirit to never give up. 

'Arctic' warrants four stars of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-