Had the potential, but sadly 'Amundsen' underwhelms.
It's a fascinating biopic idea, given it's about the life of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. It holds all the ingredients to create a riveting film, but unfortunately it doesn't reach the heights it perhaps should've.
I think the biggest annoyance/frustration with this is how the story is unveiled. They reveal it in boring fashion through the voices of others, with it being told in both the native tongue and English. Both those things stopped me from creating a connection to the characters.
I like the cast, though. Pål Sverre Hagen leads strongly in the main role, while Christian Rubeck gives a good performance too. The rest of the support cast are solid if forgettable, with Katherine Waterston being the most memorable.
Cinematography is nice, though the ageing effects aren't the best. All in all, it isn't one I'd recommend.
Plot summary
Norway, 1926. After read a newspaper about Roald Amundsen's missing in the North Pole, his brother Leon leaves his house to walk to the next door Roald's house, to await news. Taking him wrongly as a thief, Leon is hit by Bess Brigads, Roald's younger love interest. Introducing each other, Bess learns by Leon about a child Roald Amundsen, who rose with a happy family with his parents and other three brothers fascinated by North and South Pole, after the unknown and uncharted lands due to the extreme conditions of survival by the so much below zero temperatures. When their father died during one of his usual sea voyages and their mother died by disease a little time later, Roald and Leon strengthened his bonds caring each other in their wish to be the first men to arrive North Pole, where Roald would be the explorer and Leon the financier to get a team and the enough money for the travel. But in 1908 Frederick Cook's claiming to have arrived North Pole force them to change the plans: Roald proposes to arrive South Pole, starting an unwitting race against English explorer Robert Falcon Scott, who wants the same achievement for the British Empire. When in 1912 Roald wins the race and Scott dies during the travelling by freeze, Roald is turned a hero for Norway but object of an open despise by Geographical Society of London during a dinner celebrated in his honor. Forced by a previous promise to make a travel by the Bering Strait to study Arctic ocean streams, Roald's five years travel turns in a seven years travel aboard the ship Maud, changing his character by the long-time of isolation and the unexpected meeting with a tribe of Inuits, whose arrive Maud asking help to heal one girl child ill. With the night passing while Bess and Leon talk, she learns more about the man behind the fame, a person so great as adventurer and explorer but so hard and despicable as human being, determined to fulfill his child dreams to arrive North Pole at any cost, at the same time that Bess and Leon hope to receive a phone call to know if really Roald is than dead as the newspaper published.
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Movie Reviews
Holds all the ingredients to create a riveting film, but unfortunately it doesn't
Exploring
Just because the film is going places (a few of them actually),it doesn't mean its pace is a fast one. Quite the opposite is the case. Therefor making it I reckon almost unwatchable for some. Having said that, if you are curious about the will and curiosity of men, that won't stop you (no pun intended).
I don't know the real persons/individuals and how truthful this is to what happened (and their interactions/rivalries),I just know that it does work decently on the big or small screen and for the movie and its purposes. Very nice cinematography and the acting is more than just solid too. Not for everyone, but that I reckon is true for many other movies too, in a different way.
Soul-less depiction of a great explorer...
Aside from the obvious headline, I'll admit to knowing precious little about this world renowned pioneer. This, though quite informative, offered me little meat to put on the bones of my schoolboy lessons. It straddles the line between history and melodrama in a rather sterile fashion with performances from Pål Sverre Hagan in the title role and Christian Rubeck as his brother Leon that are really pretty lacklustre - especially as they age. The narrative is frequently interesting when we are not embroiled in their complex love life, it gives us a genuine sense of the peril that followed almost every adventure the man undertook. Sadly, though, a mix of poor visual effects and a really dull script left me distinctly underwhelmed. Norwegians have a great deal to be proud of with both the achievements of Amundsen and his legacy, but sadly this probably isn't one of them....