Mads Mikkelsen has turned his hand to all manner of different films during his career, from priests to cannibals, and he has certainly shown that he can handle, shall we say, the more challenging roles – and physically-demanding roles too. It seems that he went through more than a few hard knocks during the making of Arctic (2018), which was actually filmed in Iceland, but by no means any less of a struggle with the elements for that. And it looks it, too: Arctic clearly took a lot out of the principal actor, who looks genuinely exhausted and freezing for most of the time. Sort of authentically miserable. However, Arctic is not the straightforward battle with the wilderness that I expected. Rather, this is an unusually understated, even oblique piece of film. In fact, Arctic is to the disaster movie what Valhalla Rising was to the historical epic: these are both brooding mood pieces which have little concern with neat, linear narratives. And this is exactly what makes them so engaging and appealing.
We never learn what happened to Overgård’s (Mikkelsen) plane, nor do we learn how long he has been sat on the ice alone, waiting to be rescued – but it seems that he has settled into something of a routine, and so must have been there for some time. Beyond carving ‘SOS’ into the frozen earth, he is simply waiting for something to happen, although he seems to have some aptitude for looking after himself – he has some shelter, he can procure food, and so he’s surviving. Things soon go from bad to worse, though; a helicopter finally begins circling the area, but it gets caught up in a sudden change in weather and crashes, killing the pilot and badly injuring the co-pilot. So, rather than securing that rescue, Overgård finds himself in the position of needing to be the rescuer. He patches up the woman and takes her back to his plane, together with some useful salvage from the helicopter.
Overgård becomes something of a ministering angel to the mysterious woman, and it seems that his own loneliness has had a profound effect on him, but truth be told her injuries are so grave that she spends the film in its entirety as an inert substance – she never stands, barely speaks and will barely eat or drink. Still, Overgård makes the decision that they cannot just remain where they are, even if this means towing the woman on a sled. She has an infection which could kill her, if they just do nothing. With the use of a map he found on the helicopter – much better than the makeshift one he was using previously – he plots out a route, and they set off.
The film thereafter follows them on their journey. And, yes, whilst this throws them into peril, not least with the film’s sole jump-out-of-skin moment, this is more of an existential piece than a straight-up man vs. the elements yarn. The pace of the film is incredibly, even oddly languid. It is almost dialogue-free, and under director Joe Penna’s watch everything is allowed plenty of time to unfold, creating a nicely atmospheric piece of film. There’s a great balance struck between the expected vast landscapes, but also some rather nicely-handled moments of claustrophobia – with our very small cast crammed into wrecked planes, dangling from wrecked helicopters or literally crawling into holes and caves to escape the conditions. Again, all of this is made possible by the film’s very careful, deliberate handling of pace. Mikkelsen does a superb job with what he’s given, too. And a massive part of the appeal here is the phenomenal soundtrack by Joseph Trapaneze – it’s brilliantly ominous and expansive, suiting the burgeoning mood of the film perfectly.
So this was not the kind of film I was expecting, all told, but Arctic is a superb piece of work, a reflective kind of film which rewards a more reflective approach. It might throw just a little redemption in there, but overall this is a man’s journey through his own turmoil, as well-enacted and rendered completely plausible by Mads Mikkelsen.
Arctic will be released to DVD, Blu-ray and digital on June 24th 2019 (Signature Entertainment).