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K:19 - The Widowmaker
**
Cinema Releases - October 25, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate PG. USA.
117 minutes. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol. Starring Al Pacino, Rachel
Roberts, Catherine Keener, Evan Rachel Wood, Jason Schwarzman, Winona Ryder,
Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jay Mohr.
In 1961, Russia's first nuclear submarine went
on its maiden voyage. The coolant around the reactor sprung a leak, and the
core temperature started to rise. Men went into the reactor room without
protective equipment in an attempt to repair the damage, but their tools
were imperfect and a three-fold crisis started to emerge. The boat filled
with radiation. The reactor threatened to explode, and set off nuclear torpedoes
in the sea. The submarine was near an American destroyer ship and a NATO
base, and disaster would have threatened to ignite world war.
Of course, the problems were somehow solved, and
the superpowers did not go to war in 1961. But many crew members died of
radiation poisoning in the days and years after the ship was rescued, and
everyone onboard was sworn to secrecy. The story of K-19 did not publicly
emerge for twenty-eight years; it was released upon the fall of the Soviet
Union.
This is a tale of importance, with the potential
for breathtaking dramatic power. As a film, it could work on similar levels
to "Thirteen Days". But "K-19: The Widowmaker" just doesn't
play. Submarine films are tricky: When they have clear and merciless plans
on how to capture images that will grip us -- as with "Das Boot" and "The
Hunt for Red October" -- they work brilliantly. Anything less, and you end
up with films like "U-571".
Going into "K-19", I felt certain that the director,
Kathryn Bigelow, would infuse the material with passion and style. She has
made action pictures of edge and depth, like "Point Break" and "Blue Steel",
and her "Strange Days" goes unsung as one of the best films of the past decade.
If there was anything that made me dubious, it was the casting of Harrison
Ford and Liam Neeson as members of the Russian navy.
Watching the movie saw my expectations get turned
upside-down. Ford and Neeson speak understatedly, so after a little while
we stop thinking about the accents, and the actors create a skilful dynamic
of unspoken rivalry and unease. Neeson plays the boat's former captain, a
friendly chap who relates to the boys in his crew like a father figure, knows
their names, values and military strengths by heart and has let certain
formalities slide. Ford is cold, demanding, official; he wants protocol followed
to the letter, he will push his men to the edge and he will only show emotion
when he feels those around him have earned the right to see
it.
It's the filmmaking that doesn't work. Bigelow
includes plenty of rumbling underwater shots, gives us sweeping views over
the top of the craft and shows a knack for finding ways to get her camera
rushing through the confines of the submarine's tiny rooms. She never, however,
finds a way to fixate on the mood of the boat or grip the audience with
claustrophobia and tension. We can view the emotions, but not feel them.
There's a distance and lack of focus. Too many scenes descend into guys randomly
barking complex technical terms at each other; the music on the soundtrack
signals that intense things are happening, but often they're impossible to
follow or just plain uninteresting.
By the second half of "K-19: The Widowmaker",
we're able to glimpse the underlying power of the story, but just about,
so this is a missed opportunity. Submarines are such boring, gruelling places
that filmmakers who choose to shoot in them must find a way of immersing
us with atmosphere from the beginning. Otherwise, we're lost, and we're checking
our watches for the boat to hurry up and dock already.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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