This Norwegian film was listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but it was pretty much impossible to get my hands on the UK, either online or on DVD, I'm glad I did finally find how to watch it. Basically set in the 1920 Norway, in Oslo, Henrik Larsen (Gard B. Eidsvold) is an aspiring poet, he proposed marriage to his girlfriend Gertrude (Camilla Martens), but she is unsure if she want to commit to anyone. Larsen is hurt, so he decides he needs a change, so he finds a job working for a year as a trapper in East Greenland, there the temperature is zero kelvin (absolute zero). It is not a welcoming environment for the sensitive Larsen, used to the city life, he is teamed up with seemingly rough old sailor and fellow trapper Randbæk (Stellan Skarsgård), and scientist Jakob Holm (Bjørn Sundquist). The three men are trapped in a tiny hut, as the arctic winter sets in, a complex and intense love/hate relationship develops between Randbæk and Larsen. Holm remains mostly quiet, Larsen gets a lot of ribbing from his rough-hewn veteran trapper companion, but he and Randbæk are more similar to one another than either would like to admit. It comes to a point when Holm disappears, the two men have to decide to search for him, or remain sheltered and safe, but they are forced to leave when a fire accidentally causes the hut to burn down. The two men ride out by dog sled across the icy plains to find Holm, they do eventually find him, in a ravine and dead by hanging. The two men take the body, but get lost in the snow and end up going the wrong direction, across a large lake, the ice is not very thick, there is a clash as to whether to go across or round. The two men fight, but Larsen manages to subdue Randbæk and gains control of the dog sled, going across the lake, until he finds shelter in an abandoned ship. Larsen is surprised when Randbæk returns, but he simply sits back to have a talk, the two eventually go outside and have a physical fight, until Larsen kills Randbæk. In the end, Larsen returns to civilisation, where the authorities question what happened, after he tells the story and the bodies are discovered, but it seems there is not enough evidence to convict him, Larsen is released and allowed to reunite with Gertude. Also starring Paul-Ottar Haga as Officer, Johannes Joner as Company Man, Erik Øksnes as Captain and Lars Andreas Larssen as Judge. When I watched this film, there were no English subtitles available, only Norwegian, so it took me much longer to watch, just over five hours, but it was worth it. Skarsgård in his native language is great as the suspicious sailor man, as is the vulnerable Eidsvold, the story is interesting, and it is cool seeing the conflict play out in isolation amidst stunningly bleak arctic scenery of Svalbard, (if you can get your hands on it) it is a simple enjoyable drama. Good!

Norwegian screenwriter and director Hans Petter Moland's second feature film which he co-wrote with Swedish screenwriter Lars Bill Lundholm and Peter Tutein, is an adaptation of a novel called "Larsen" from 1929 by Danish author Peter Tutein. It premiered in Norway, was shot on location in Norway and Greenland and is a Norway-Sweden co-production which was produced by Norwegian producer Bent Rognlien and Danish actor, producer and director Esben Høilund Carlsen (1941-2011). It tells the story about a poet named Henrik Larsen whom after having proposed to his girlfriend named Gertrud who believes in free love, leaves Christiania, Norway and goes on a fur hunting expedition to Greenland where he is to write a book about the men of the wild and live with a Swedish man named Randbaek and a Norwegian man named Jakob Holm.Subtly and engagingly directed by Nordic filmmaker Hans Petter Moland, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a dense and involving portrayal of an increasingly conflicting relationship between a scientist, a superstitious and antagonizing former sailor and a lyrical violinist. While notable for it's distinct and naturalistic milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by Norwegian cinematographer Philip Øgaard, production design by Polish production designer Janusz Sosnowski, costume design by Norwegian costume designer Bente Winther-Larsen and use of sound, this dialog-driven and narrative-driven story about a winter expedition which turns into a battle for survival between two contradicting personalities and the man in the middle, depicts two in-depth and merging studies of character and contains a great and timely instrumental score by Norwegian composer Terje Rypdal.This somewhat romantic, modestly literary and reflective drama from the mid-1990s which is set during a winter in the mid-1920s in Greenland and where a sadistic misogynist instigates a war with a humane philogynist whom he thinks has to become a real man according to his notions of what a real man is, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, scenes between Henrik and Randbaek and Henrik and Gertrud and the memorable and authentic acting performances by Norwegian actors Gard B. Eidsvold and Bjørn Sundqvist and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård. A majestically atmospheric, existentialistic and psychological chamber piece which gained, among other awards, the Amanda Award for Best Norwegian Film at the 12th Amanda Awards in 1996.

Yes, the movie is in Norwegian with English subtitles. It is not difficult to follow however, because the scenes are almost all dialog driven. With little action to distract, you will be somewhat at ease reading the text. Essentially this is a character study about the dynamic interaction between three isolated fur trappers played against the bleak Greenland landscape. There is a sympathetic poet writer, a gruff foul mouthed sailor, and a scientist. With the poet and sailor on a collision course, there is a claustrophobic catastrophe just waiting to happen. This film is not for the squeamish viewer, because of the human and animal brutality on display. - MERK

"Now you'll become one of the unhappy." These are among the last words Randbaek has for Henrik Larsen as they crouch on the icy deck of a wrecked boat cast up on the Northern Greenland coast. What a curious and fascinating psychological thriller this is, although "thriller" gives a wrong impression. What's been happening is the taunting aggression, the truces and betrayals that Randbaek (Stellan Skarsgard), a crude, tough trapper, has been inflicting on Larsen (Gard Eidsvold), a young writer who signed up for an adventure and got more than he bargained for. Zero Kelvin takes place in the mid-Twenties. Larsen is a happy-go-lucky poet in Oslo who hasn't published anything. He has a girlfriend who wants to keep their love free and doesn't need such things as engagements. He signs up to spend a year in Greenland hunting and trapping. Of course, he'll keep a notebook and a letter from his girl. He winds up in a desolate, frigid wooden shack he shares with Randbaek, the trapping foreman, and one other trapper, Holm (Bjorn Sunquist). The wind howls and so do the sled dogs. There's nothing to see except shale beaches, snow and ice, and the endless cold, gray days. There's nothing to do except work, kill seals, shoot rabbits for food, skin animals, butcher the meat, and huddle around an oil stove at night. Randbaek has no patience with college boys or educated youngsters. He's capable, violent, raw and obscene. Henrik learns to pull his own weight, but it isn't easy. Randbaek's attitude toward Henrik gets worse. His descriptions of love to Henrik, and of making love to Henrik's girlfriend, are not for the faint-hearted. Randbaek may be a man to have along if your survival depends on it, but if Randbaek's survival depends on you not surviving, Randbaek won't think twice. Holm keeps his own counsel. Randbaek sees Holm as a friend, but Holm, something of a scientist, a sharpshooter, seldom takes sides. If the wooden shack they all share, sometimes with lice, seems close quarters, it quickly becomes claustrophobic. Eventually Holm has had enough. And Randbaek and Henrik sort things out in a way that is tough-minded and brutal. Henrik eventually returns to his girl. An engagement may happen. But Henrik is not the happy-go-lucky young poet we met earlier. The movie is fascinating for several reasons. First, the icy desolation of the location chills your bones. Randbaek's taunting games, which really aren't so much games as a basic part of Randbaek's deeply unhappy emotional makeup, seem even more unpleasant because there's no place to escape them. Second, as time goes by and as we see Henrik's competence increase, we expect some sort of confrontation...and we aren't looking forward to it. Randbaek is a bulky brute of a man. It won't matter how righteous Henrik's case might be; this isn't a movie where the smaller guy would win. Third, you can't keep your eyes off the actors; they're that good. Stellan Skarsgard in particular gives a monumental performance as Randbaek. It's not that he's almost unrecognizable beneath all the greasy hair. Skarsgard has managed to create an utterly repellant, unpredictable man, yet a man we wind up feeling a little sorry for. "Are you so much better than me?" he shouts at Henrik, and a part of us wants to shout back, "No."