domenica 18 agosto 2019

Operasjon Arktis - 2014

From Norway. It was a good movie, with three children as protagonists. They don't really get along with each other, and they 'accidentally' end up alone in a deserted island. They must survive the cold and the bears, waiting for the stupid grown-ups to find them. Luckily food is not a big problem.
Details: Julia is the older sister. She cares about appearance, and at the new school she doesn't want to be mingled with her little brother and sister: Sindre and Ida. Basically Ida is a little know-it-all who thinks that Julia is a good-for-nothing, while Sindre is a bit of a troublemaker, butt a good kid: he won't lower his head and he would fight any bully on his way, but since Julia keeps on her own as if she doesn't know them, he doesn't listen to her at all. Their father is located at a base somewhere else, and Sindre misses him a lot, so when he sees a helicopter he wants to go to his father.
When the pilot sees the three children he warns them to stay away, and he's well satisfied when he sees them walking away, and thinks nothing more of it. Moron.
Sindre runs back and his sisters run after him. Julia tries to stop them but nobody listens to her so she joins them.
On the deserted, iced island there was a man, a researcher checking how much the climate change is affecting the ice and the lives of the bears. He got injured so he called for help. Now the helicopter is sent on an emergency rescue mission, but the children don't know this, so they hide inside the helicopter thinking they'll go to see their father. As soon as it lands, the children go out. It's night, dark, and they don't realise that they are in the wrong place. Well, Julia does, but they don't listen to her plea to go back inside the helicopter until they see it fly away without them.
Now they are there alone, nobody knows where they are. Their mom immediately calls their father and searches start immediately, but of course nobody thinks that they might have gone that far.
Well, they should have, and maybe would have, if that pilot had told anyone that he had seen the children... but he says nothing. He never thought it was important..?!? He was the last person to see them, but he never thought of telling anyone that he had seen them.... I mean, what do you call someone like that???
Anyway, the helicopter obviously landed near the researcher's shelter, so that's where the kids go, still thinking that in the morning they'll be able to ask someone for help, until morning comes and they realise where they are. There is nobody, nothing around them, only ice. They eat the man's food and have enough food to keep them warm while inside. Julia was dressed very lightly (for appearance purposes) but luckily she finds a big coat in there (wow, the man was twice her size, and yet...)
They find the man's diary and also a dog for company (the other dogs went into the helicopter? I think so). Reading that the man called for help, Julia realises there must be a radio somewhere. They find it but have trouble using it. They don't know how to make it work. Ida wants to do it but Julia doesn't let her because she's younger, and Julia tries herself but doesn't know how. There is also a mother-bear in search for food, for her and her little bear, but they manage to hide inside the shelter.
Now, there were many moments when two younger children made you want to slap them in the face, causing a lot of troubles, until you remember that they are indeed children, without proper control, so... it's actually quite understandable. Ida heard on tv that there is better reception in high places, so she sneaks out at night while the others sleep, takes the radio and tries to lift it up to see if it works, but it's heavy, she's a little girl, and no surprise, she drops it and loses sight of it...
The first time they see the bears the younger children are like 'awww so cute' and Ida is like waiting for them to come near, until Julia drags them inside the shelter. The dog is left outside, and the little ones want to open the door, but Julia is against it because it's too dangerous (well, she was right), fortunately the dog isn't as stupid as many humans and finds a way to hide behind the wood stack and go unnoticed. Thanks to the bear though, they discover the existence of a place underground with food provisions. That's great, now they'll have food for a long time, right? No, wrong, because Sindre thinks it's a great idea to go there alone to get food for the dog, and forgets the door open. Julia is very angry when she finds the place has been totally emptied by the hungry bear.
I mean, these two little children cause a lot of troubles, but they are indeed little children, left unguarded... so it's not really surprising, it's rather quite understandable.
Julia thinks they should move, but they meet more trouble when Sindre falls in the iced water because the ice was too thin. Julia saves him but she falls too (in order to save him), but luckily Ida keeps her head straight and manages to save her using something Julia can cling onto so she can lift her out of the water.
Sindre gets sick, no wonder, but now Julia starts reasoning on their choices. She asks Ida where the radio fell, and together they manage to get it back. It hadn't fallen in the water, only on the ice. Julia this time leaves it to Ida to try and make it work. The little scholar follows the book instructions (there was a manual? Come on, Julia, there was a manual?) and manages to make it work, and she leaves a message to a surprised man. They are starting to lose hope, Sindre is sick, they are tired...
The man who received the message calls others to discuss it, because it was a strange message, and he's told that there is nobody on that island, but luckily their mother listens to the discussions, and when she realises that the last time they went there was the same day the children went missing, she runs to that stupid helicopter pilot ( 'yes, I saw them, but I told them to go away, they were not in the helicopter'...... I have no words... ). The parents realise that they must have hidden in the back and immediately arrange a rescue mission. That night the weather is horrible and they can't see them and think of going back, until Julia manages to light a fire. She had prepared it earlier, but of course it was difficult to light it with a simple lighter, so she poured gasoline on it and she managed to light it, but it wasn't enough. Luckily ( !! ) since it was heavy she had left a trail of gasoline that made the fire move to the gasoline tank, which exploded alerting the people on the helicopter, so they went back and rescued the children.
The movie ends right there, after the parents hug the children.

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