Kursk (film)

Kursk (released as The Command in the US and as Kursk: The Last Mission in the UK) is a 2018 English-language Belgian-Luxembourgian drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg based on Robert Moore's book A Time to Die, about the true story of the 2000 Kursk submarine disaster.

Kursk
Theatrical release poster
Directed byThomas Vinterberg
Produced byAriel Zeitoun
Screenplay byRobert Rodat
Based onA Time to Die
by Robert Moore
StarringMatthias Schoenaerts
Léa Seydoux
Colin Firth
Peter Simonischek
August Diehl
Max von Sydow
Music byAlexandre Desplat
CinematographyAnthony Dod Mantle
Edited byValdís Óskarsdóttir
Production
company
EuropaCorp
Belga Productions
VIA EST
Distributed byEuropaCorp Distribution
Release date
  • September 6, 2018 (2018-09-06) (TIFF)
  • November 7, 2018 (2018-11-07) (France)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryBelgium
Luxembourg[1]
LanguageEnglish[2][3]
Budget$40 million[4][5][6]
Box office$6.5 million[7]

It stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux, Peter Simonischek, August Diehl, Max von Sydow, and Colin Firth. It was the last film featuring von Sydow to be released before his death in 2020.

Plot

In Murmansk Russian Navy Captain-Lieutenant Mikhail Averin prepares for the Northern Fleet's exercise involving his posting, the Oscar II-class submarine Kursk. Budget cuts prevent the sailors from receiving their earned pay, forcing Averin and his friends Anton and Oleg to trade their submariners' watches for supplies for the wedding of their crewmate Pavel. After the wedding the sailors say their goodbyes to their families as the boat goes out to sea.

En route to the exercise area, Pavel, the weapons officer, notes that the temperature of the experimental HTP torpedo is beginning to increase rapidly, and requests permission to fire it early due to the risk of a kerosene leak. Noting the submarine's proximity to the allowed zone and the still acceptable temperature of the torpedo, the captain orders Pavel and his men to wait. As the temperature rises further the torpedo explodes, devastating the boat and killing the weapons room crew.

Averin and his men, located aft, immediately begin to take precautions and determine the situation. The rapidly increasing temperature of the weapons room explodes the remaining ordnance, killing the bridge crew and sending the ship to the bottom. The survivors rapidly move aft securing compartments as they go. Averin contacts Anton in the reactor room, who says goodbye as the compartment floods, having secured the reactor and prevented a nuclear disaster.

The remaining men rally in the aft-most compartment of the boat, which is rapidly taking on water. With the pump not powerful enough to stop water entering the compartment, the crew desperately await rescue. Meanwhile, the sailors' wives, including Averin's wife Tanya and Pavel's newlywed Daria, have heard rumors making their way from the Fleet regarding Kursk. While naval officers give them no answer, they note that the sole rescue ship has not yet left port.

Commodore David Russell of the Royal Navy has detected the seismic signature of the dual explosions and quickly deduces that the Kursk has had an accident. His offer of assistance is rebuffed by his acquaintance Admiral Grudzinsky, commanding the Northern Fleet, believing there could not be survivors. Grudzinsky's men hear the taps of the trapped men on the ship's hull, and the rescue ship is immediately deployed. Tanya and the other wives are reassured by this while Averin and his men are ecstatic upon hearing the thud of the rescue submersible on their hull.

However, the aged and ill-maintained submersible is unable to establish a seal, and must return to surface along with a 12-hour recharge of its batteries. The trapped men begin to run out of oxygen, so Averin and another crewman are forced to dive into the flooded compartments to obtain oxygen cartridges, nearly dying in the process. The men agonizingly await another attempt with little food and only a few blankets, as the water level slowly continues to rise. The Russian submersible's attempts to connect with the submarine continue to end in failure, as the morale of the crewmen and their wives on shore continues to plummet.

Having heard no taps from the men during the latest rescue attempt, and believing them to be near-death if anything, the Russian Navy's Admiral Vitaly Petrenko finally accepts Russell's offer of aid with up-to-date equipment and divers. On the submarine, Averin composes a goodbye to his family, hoping that his young son Misha might have some memories of him. Oleg organizes a "breakfast buffet" with the little food available to raise morale, but during the celebration, crewman Leo accidentally drops an oxygen cartridge into the water, starting a flash fire that consumes the remaining oxygen. With minutes left of oxygen, and no means of escape, the remaining men sing their sea-shanty, "The Sailor's Band", wishing goodbye to each other.

Russell's divers finally manage to enter the boat, but have arrived too late, and find no survivors. At the funeral for the men, Misha refuses to shake Admiral Petrenko's hand, evidencing the anger of the families at the stone-walling and refusal to accept aid by the Fleet. In honor of his father and for his courageous stand against the intimidating Admiral, Averin's fellow sailors give Misha his father's watch, to remember him by.

Cast

Production

Development

On 17 August 2015, it was announced that EuropaCorp was developing a film based on the 2000 K-141 Kursk submarine disaster, and that Martin Zandvliet had been hired to direct the film from a script by Robert Rodat, based on Robert Moore's 2002 book A Time to Die. Kursk would have been Zandvliet's first English-language film.[2] On 21 January 2016, it was reported that Zandvliet was no longer attached and that EuropaCorp had hired Thomas Vinterberg to direct the film.[12]

On 2 March 2016, Matthias Schoenaerts was announced in the cast, reteaming with Vinterberg after Far from the Madding Crowd (2015).[13] Colin Firth joined the cast on 26 May 2016.[14] Léa Seydoux joined the cast on 7 February 2017, in the role of Tanya, the wife of Mikhail Averin, a Russian Navy captain-lieutenant played by Matthias Schoenaerts. Rachel McAdams was once in talks for the role of Tanya.[8] Deadline Hollywood also reported that Firth would play David Russell, a British naval commander going against Russia's warnings to try to save the men on the Kursk.[8]

On 15 March 2017, it was reported that Vladimir Putin's character had been cut from the film before an actor was cast for the role.[15] According to The Hollywood Reporter,[15] EuropaCorp's president, Luc Besson, wanted to shift the story's focus to the rescue mission rather than the politics behind the disaster. One theory noted by The Hollywood Reporter is that nobody at EuropaCorp wanted to be hacked. (The film The Interview had angered Kim Jong-un and was believed to have sparked the Sony hack in 2014.[15]) Putin had been Russian president for eight months when the tragedy had occurred. He was supposed to appear as a supporting character in at least five scenes and was sympathetically portrayed in the original Kursk script, which highlighted why he had taken the tragedy personally (Putin's father had been a submariner).[15]

Pre-production

On 8 May 2017, Peter Simonischek, Max von Sydow and Michael Nyqvist were announced in the cast.[16] However, Nyqvist died on 27 June.[17]

Alexandre Desplat composed the movie score.[18] The crew includes Catherine Marchand as the costume designer,[16] Anthony Dod Mantle as the director of photography,[16] Thierry Flamand as the production designer[16] and Valdis Oskardottir as the film's editor.[16]

Subject matter experts such as journalist Robert Moore (author of the novel upon which the film is based), David Russell (British Royal Navy commodore who had tried to save the men from the Kursk), and submarine expert Ramsey Martin acted as advisors for the film.[16]

The project was produced by France's EuropaCorp with Belgium's Belga Productions and Luxembourg's VIA EST.[19]

Filming

Shooting was scheduled to start in September 2016, but it had to be postponed due to Russia's defense ministry not issuing a permit for shooting in the country, which would run for about a month.[20] According to The Hollywood Reporter, Russia's defense ministry originally promised cooperation with the crew to provide realism to the movie. However, later it reportedly grew concerned about granting access to classified information and sensitive locations.[3] On 7 February 2017, ScreenDaily.com reported that shooting was scheduled to start in April.[19]

Filming started at the Naval base of Toulon, France, on 26 April 2017.[21] Some scenes were filmed with Colin Firth at the commercial port of Brest, France, between 2 May and 6 May 2017, including scenes aboard the rescue ship Atlantic Tonjer,[22] serving as the Seaway Eagle.[23][24] On 8 May 2017, it was reported that shooting would take place not only in France but also in locations throughout Europe, including Belgium and Norway.[16] On 12 July 2017, the crew was in Jette (Brussels) and scenes were filmed in "Salle Excelsior" (Place Cardinal Mercier).

Release

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2018.[25] It is scheduled to be released through DirecTV Cinema on 23 May 2019, before being released in a limited release on 21 June 2019, by Saban Films.[26]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69%, based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 6.33/10. The website's consensus reads, "The Command plumbs the depths of real-life disaster to tell an uneven yet reasonably diverting story of lives caught between bureaucracy and certain doom."[27] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on results from 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[28]

See also

References
  1. Jessica Kiang (2018-09-13). "Toronto Film Review: 'Kursk'". Variety. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  2. "Kursk Submarine Disaster Movie in the Works at Luc Besson's EuropaCorp". Variety. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  3. "Russia's Defense Ministry to Cooperate on Luc Besson's Submarine Disaster Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  4. "Britse Oscarwinnaar én Matthias Schoenaerts zes weken aan de slag in Lint". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 10 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  5. "Oscarwinnaar zes weken in ons land voor duurste filmproductie op Belgische bodem". De Standaard (in Dutch). 10 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  6. "Belgium's best kept secret? TLG talks to Glenn Roggeman, CEO of AED Studios". The Location Guide. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  7. Kursk. BOM, 2019
  8. "Lea Seydoux Boards EuropaCorp Submarine Drama 'Kursk' – Berlin". Deadline Hollywood. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  9. "Matthias Schweighöfer - Schulze & Heyn FILM PR". Schulze & Heyn FILM PR. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  10. Seeberg, Kenan (9 April 2017). "Seven Danes to Play in Big American Disaster Movie". Metroxpress (in Danish). Metroxpress. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  11. http://www.michael-nyqvist.com/updates.html2017
  12. "Thomas Vinterberg to Direct 'Kursk' Submarine Movie for Luc Besson's EuropaCorp". Variety. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  13. "Matthias Schoenaerts & Thomas Vinterberg Reunite On EuropaCorp Sub Tale 'Kursk'". Deadline Hollywood. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  14. "Colin Firth to Star in Submarine Disaster Movie 'Kursk'". The Hollywood Reporter. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  15. "Vladimir Putin Character Cut From Luc Besson's Russian Thriller". The Hollywood Reporter. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  16. "Thomas Vinterberg's Kursk movie, now in production, will shoot all over Europe". ComingSoon.net. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  17. Michael Nyqvist, ‘Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ Star, Dies at 56. By Alex Stedman. Variety.com, June 27, 2017.
  18. "Alexandre Desplat to Score Thomas Vinterberg's 'Kursk'". Film Music Reporter. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  19. "Lea Seydoux boards Vinterberg's Kursk submarine drama". ScreenDaily.com. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  20. "Russian Shoot of Colin Firth Disaster Movie Postponed". The Hollywood Reporter. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  21. "Léa Seydoux et Colin Firth tournent à Toulon... en toute discrétion". Varmatin (in French). 25 April 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  22. "Brest : Tournage d'un film sur le naufrage du Koursk". Mer et Marine (in French). 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  23. "Tournage. Colin Firth à Brest pour le film "Kursk"". Le Télégramme (in French). 2 May 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  24. Ouest france (5 May 2017). "Brest: Vintenberg tells part of the history of Kursk". Ouest france (in French). Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  25. Vlessing, Etan (July 24, 2018). "Toronto: Timothee Chalamet Starrer 'Beautiful Boy,' Dan Fogelman's 'Life Itself' Among Festival Lineup". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  26. Billington, Alex (15 May 2019). "Full US Trailer for Russian Submarine Film 'The Command' aka 'Kursk'". First Showing. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  27. "Kursk (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  28. "Kursk reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.