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Orion's Belt is a 1985 Norwegian dual-language, political action thriller film, directed by Ola Solum and Tristan de Vere Cole. It is based on Jon Michelet's 1977 novel by the sam…
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Orion's Belt (Norwegian: Orions belte) is a 1985 Norwegian dual-language, political action thriller film, directed by Ola Solum and Tristan de Vere Cole. It is based on Jon Michelet's 1977 novel by the same name.
Orion's Belt is a 1985 Norwegian dual-language, political action thriller film, directed by Ola Solum and Tristan de Vere Cole. It is based on Jon Michelet's 1977 novel by the same name. The film follows three Svalbard-based shabby seamen, played by Helge Jordal, Sverre Anker Ousdal and Hans Ola Sørlie, who discover a Soviet bearing station. They are subsequently targets of Soviet liquidation and American interrogation in an attempt to quiet them and retain the political status quo. The Cold War topics were a critique of the Norwegian policy of allowing a Soviet presence on Svalbard.
Orion's Belt (Norwegian: Orions belte) is a 1985 Norwegian dual-language, political action thriller film, directed by Ola Solum and Tristan de Vere Cole. It is based on Jon Michelet's 1977 novel by the same name. The film follows three Svalbard-based shabby seamen, played by Helge Jordal, Sverre Anker Ousdal and Hans Ola Sørlie, who discover a Soviet bearing station. They are subsequently targets of Soviet liquidation and American interrogation in an attempt to quiet them and retain the political status quo. The Cold War topics were a critique of the Norwegian policy of allowing a Soviet presence on Svalbard.
The film was produced by Dag Alveberg and Petter Borgli, and the script was written by Briton Richard Harris. Two versions of the film were recorded, a Norwegian cinematic film and an English-language television film. First Solum shot the Norwegian-language scenes, and then Cole shot the same scene with the actors speaking English. The entire crew and cast lived on board a ship which traveled through Svalbard and Finnmark during production. The theme music, Svalbardtema, was composed by Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud and has become an anthem for Svalbard.
The story centers around three seamen who conduct shady business on board their vessel, Sandy Hook. The film starts with two of them, Tom Jansen (Helge Jordal) and Sverre (Hans Ola Sørlie), taking tourists on a polar bear safari. During this trip and at a later scene at a pub in Longyearbyen, where Tom's girlfriend, Eva Jelseth (Kjersti Holmen) is introduced, the viewers are briefed on the politics of Svalbard and the large Soviet presence. The third seaman, Lars (Sverre Anker Ousdal), presents plans to freight a bulldozer to the mainland from Sarstangen. They have been instructed to dump the bulldozer underway as part of an insurance fraud scheme but have instead made arrangements to sell the vehicle on Greenland. While at port, Tom is called to visit Governor Bache (Jon Eikemo), who warns that he will be keeping an eye on them.
Source: Orion's Belt (film) (CC BY-SA)
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After a dramatic but successful delivery of the bulldozer to the purchasers, they return towards Longyearbyen. They report to Isfjord Radio to say they were caught in a storm but deviate on their route back to avoid returning too early. They get caught in actual bad weather and decide to pull up in a nearby island, Kjerulføya, north of Nordaustlandet. The following day they go ashore to find food but instead find a cable. They follow the cable until they find a Soviet bearing station. While at the station, they are discovered by the Russians. They return fire after being shot at, killing a Russian; Sverre is wounded.
They escape and decide to mix with the fishing fleet to avoid being spotted. However, they are intercepted by a seemingly civilian Russian Aeroflot helicopter, which turns out to be heavily armed and fires at the ship. Sandy Hook steers into a narrow bay, and the protagonists fire back, eventually destroying the helicopter with a firebomb. They continue to Kapp Dufferin, where they anchor. Tom rows to land to find supplies, but while he is on land, a Soviet helicopter bombs Sandy Hook, killing Lars and Sverre. Tom has to walk across Spitsbergen to reach Longyearbyen. After a long march through the wilderness, he reaches a closed mine and rides an aerial tramway for coal to Longyearbyen.
Tom wakes in hospital in the company of Bache. Tom's story of the ship's sinking is not believed, and he is sent to Oslo for interrogations by a United States colonel (Jon Ausland) and other American military personnel. In a scene at Holmenkollen Park Hotel, the Soviet ambassador and Norwegian minister discuss the consequences of public knowledge of the incident. Tom is offered a new identity and a job on board a foreign trade vessel. On his way to the port, he escapes from the military police by mixing with a carnival parade. Two endings of the film were made. The second one had a longer chase scene involving a rendezvous with Eva, but in both endings, Tom is killed. Whether this is done by Soviet or American intelligence is left as an open question.
Jon Michelet's novel Orion's Belt was published by Oktober Forlag in 1977. The book's popularity in part arose from public interest in why 3,000 Russians were living on the Norwegian archipelago. The title refers to the idea that Svalbard was as central in a potential Cold War war theater as Orion's Belt, a central asterism in the constellation Orion. The novel also played on the fear of nuclear war and the lack of information from Norwegian media about the issue. The novel received mixed reviews. It was translated into English by Ellen Nations.
The initiative to dramatize the novel was taken by two prop masters, Dag Alveberg and Petter Borgli. They both invested half a million Norwegian krone (NOK) in the project, financed by mortgaging their homes. Neither had any experience as producers. Alveberg stated that his main motivation was him being tired of all Norwegian films being social realism. He stated that "the story could have taken place, and maybe it has taken place. We all know that the Russians do what they want on Svalbard." Alveberg first attempted to write the screenplay himself but was not satisfied. He presented the screenplay for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation; although they liked the project, they did not feel it was in the scope of the public broadcaster. Norway did not at the time have screenwriters of international standards, and Alveberg decided not to use his film as a training ground. He therefore hired the experienced British screenwriter Richard Harris.
Harris had a single meeting with Michelet in Oslo. At first Harris did not believe that there was a significant Norwegian left-wing grouping, nor did he realize that the Russian presence and the conflict in Svalbard was real. Michelet initially wanted Harris to include details such as Jansen's father being a war sailor and that he came from a working-class family, but Harris, with Michelet
