ARCTIC – Review

Mads Mikkelsen in ARCTIC. Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street.

The Arctic is among the most extreme environments found on earth, at the limits of where mankind can survive. The film ARCTIC focuses on one man marooned in that environment, spinning a deeply human tale of survival in the harshest of wildernesses. The drama/thriller is also a tour-de-force performance by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, in a nearly wordless minimalist adventure of endurance.

This is not entirely a “man alone in the wilderness” tale, although Mikkelsen’s character Overgard starts out alone. It is the appearance of another person, injured in a helicopter crash, that sends him on his journey.

With Mikkelsen’s remarkable performance, ARCTIC is about as good as it gets for man in the wilderness drama, at least of the frozen variety. The snowy landscape has an austere beauty but the sense of cold seeps into your bones watching his ordeal crossing the icy terrain. Only the human warmth of the character’s concern for this charge breaks the chill.

Shot on location in Iceland in a remote volcanic plateau, with an experienced Icelandic crew, the harsh conditions shown reflect the reality of the challenging locale. Director and co-writer Joe Penna, who wrote the script with Ryan Morris, thoroughly researched arctic survival, consulting with pilots, survivors and experts, to add a sense of gripping reality to the film. The story is fictional but also universally true as a picture of extreme survival.

Sweeping vistas of the snow-covered rocky landscape adds to the drama and gives the film a striking visual style, well used by the director and cinematographer Tomas Orn Tomasson. The screen is filled with white snow, gray rocks and blue sky, against which we see Overgard in his red coat as a small figure struggling.

When we first see Mads Mikkelsen’s character, he is engaged in some mysterious task, digging in the snow with improvised tools. Zooming out to a high, wide shot reveals he is working to maintain a large SOS he has scratched out in the snow. Stranded by a plane crash, Overgard seems to have been waiting for rescue for sometime. We do not see the crash, only the wreckage of the small plane, as we follow him through what looks like a well-practiced routine of daily life and survival as he awaits rescue. We learn nothing of who he is or why he was in this remote landscape. There is no voice-over, no flashback, just Mikkelsen’s actions and occasional words. Yet what is happening is crystal clear.

Mikkelsen’s Overgard has worked out a routine to survive, living on fish he catches with baited lines dropped in holes cut in the ice. His distress signaling device is positioned on a small hill near his wrecked plane and he climbs to the crest daily to hand crank a generator to send the signal. He appears to be the only living thing around, until a paw print and a smashed cooler reveal the presence of a polar bear.

When rescue finally seems to arrive in the form of a helicopter, it is plagued by bad luck in the form of bad weather. The helicopter that has responded at last to his distress signal is brought down by high winds in a storm. One of the two people in the helicopter is killed but the other survives, a young woman (Maria Thelma Smaradottir) who was injured in the crash. With practical discipline, Overgard scavenges what he can from the crashed helicopter and takes the injured woman back to his plane.

His joy at seeing another person is obvious. Although he speaks to her in English, her response indicates little grasp of the language and the markings on the helicopter suggest she may be Southeast Asian or maybe Korean. Still, it gives him hope that rescue for them both is on the way. But it becomes clear the woman is not doing well and Overgard is forced to act to try to save them both.

Overgard’s touching care for this stranger as well as his practical approach to the daunting task of survival are moving and gripping. At 98 minutes, the film is the right length for this tale of human endurance in a frozen wilderness. Mikkelsen gives an outstanding performance, both portraying Overgard’s resourcefulness and determination, and his touching human concern for this helpless stranger.

As good as Mikkelsen is in it, the film is limited by the man-versus-nature genre itself. The story is direct and minimalist, based on human courage in extreme conditions, and it is to the director’s credit that it keeps that simplicity. Given the kind of story it is, this is not a film for everyone, although it is as good as any of the type. Watching Overgard’s ordeal, and knowing what actor Mikkelsen had to endure to film in that harsh locale, is likely to make one grateful for central heating at the very least.

ARCTIC is a well-done, spare survival film graced with haunting Icelandic vistas and stunning location photography but mostly worth seeing for Mads Mikkelsen’s outstanding performance. ARCTIC opens Friday, February 22 at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars