The Arctic Convoy (2023)

 

            In 1942, the Anglo-Americans were sending supplies to the Soviet Union in an attempt to help the Soviets survive the Nazi onslaught. By far, the most dangerous job for American, British, and other nationality’s citizens was what was called the Murmansk Run.  Ships had to sail through the Arctic Sea and then the Barents Sea to reach the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Going into the drink when you had to abandon your ship meant you had better get in a lifeboat soon because the freezing cold water meant you only had a few minutes before you died. This movie tells the fictional story of a cargo ship that was part of convoy PQ-17. This convoy suffered more than any other convoy in WWII. “The Arctic Convoy” is an homage to the merchant seamen who risked their lives to defeat Nazi Germany. It was directed by Henrik Dahlsbakken.

            In the summer of 1942, a convoy left Iceland for a 12 day voyage to Arkhangelsk. One of ships is a Norwegion merchant ship. The movie starts on the fourth day of the voyage. A German u-boat sinks another ship to start the ordeal.  The u-boat attacks on the surface in broad daylight. It dives when a British bomber drops some bombs on it. (We see the explosions, but not the bombs.) On the seventh day, the convoy gets a message telling the escort warships to leave the convoy to help in the effort to sink the German battleship Tirpitz. Intelligence has determined that the battleship is going to try to break out of its harbor to wreak havoc on the convoys. (Ironically, the information was bad.)  The cargo ships are told its every ship for itself. Good luck. The first mate argues for claiming engine trouble and heading back to Iceland. He knows that is their best option if they want to survive.  The captain insists it is their duty to press on. Everyone should take the attitude that the ship is their coffin and give up hope. (This attitude reminds of Captain Spears of Band of Brothers telling some men in foxholes to consider themselves dead already.) Do your jobs!  Do your jobs as we encounter floating mines, German planes, and u-boats.

            “The Arctic Convoy” is an entertaining and informing film. It does a good job highlighting the brave crews who made the Murmansk Run. By following one ship, the movie puts the viewer in PQ-17. Although fictional, the plight of the crew is pretty realistic. To be entertaining, the screenplay includes dysfunction between the captain and his first mate. You see this often in submarine movies (ie. Crimson Tide and Run Silent, Run Deep). The film asks the audience to pick a side. Clearly the film portrays the captain as a good leader and the first mate seems like a coward, but his backstory is that he was on a ship that was torpedoed and he spent some days in a lifeboat. There is a power struggle in between the air attacks. For some reason, the ship has no trouble with u-boats. But it does have several encounters with aircraft that bomb and strafe. To make matters worse, it has engine trouble that makes it a sitting duck.

            The acting is solid and the cast includes a strong female character (Heidi Ellingshen). Ellinshen will be a contender the a Best Supporting Actor Buffy award. She operates on the captain when he is hit by a strafing plane. The ship is authentic looking. The production used a cargo ship that was built in 1911 and was in convoys in both world wars.  The cinematography puts you on board the ship.  The score matches the intense scenes.

            My only criticism of the movie is that in order to enhance the entertainment value of the movie, the screenplay includes some unrealistic scenes.  Typical of all war movies that have a series of combat scenes, each scene must top the last. And by the end of the movie we have seen at least one combat scene that is ridiculous. In the movie, the ship is attacked several times by German aircraft. Most of the time, they strafe. For some reason most of these planes do not have bombs. The ship has one anti-aircraft gun. The crewman assigned to the gun mentions that he has shot down 9 planes. Any viewer that knows anything about cargo ships knows that it was extremely hard to hit planes. And yet, in the movie, the gunner shoots down one.  That was possible, but unlikely. It’s the final action scene that goes over the top. When their gun is disabled, they open up the hold and prepare to use a Bofors gun to shoot through the hatch!  Unintential hilarity. And why does a cargo ship carry enough white paint  Enough to paint the ship to look like ice.

            Overall, I recommend this movie to anyone who is not familiar with WWII convoys and the Murmansk Run. Many don’t know the sacrifices the civilian crews made to keep the Soviet Union killing German soldiers. By the way, it would have been nice of Stalin to have thanked us for it. In fact, he was critical of PQ-17.  Perhaps he was right, but the movie is not a referendum on the command decisions that created the tragedy. It is a tribute to the men who risked everything despite   the odds. What PQ-17 faced was worse than any Atlantic convoy.  If you want to compare an Arctic convoy to an Atlantic convoy, you can pair this film up with Western Approaches.  The comparison can include production values in 1944 to those of a 2023 film. And you can compare it to “War Sailor” which is another Norwegian convoy movie.

GRADE  =  B-

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  There was a convoy PQ-17 that left from Iceland to deliver Lend-Lease supplies to the port of Archangel.The convoys were codenamed Operation Dervish. The first few convoys had little trouble. In the first two months, only 1 of 103 ships were sunk.  That changed with PQ-17. The convoy had a strong escort.  PQ-17 set sail on July 1. The attacks did begin on July 4. By this time, Hitler was determined to stop the flow to Russia. The convoy was subject to air and submarine attacks.  Because of the escorts, th losses were minor. 4 ships had to return to Iceland  because of engine trouble or damages done by ice bergs. On July 4, First Sea Lord Admiral ordered the escort leave the convoy to join the fleet in anticipation of a Tirpitz sortie. Pound also ordered the convoy to disperse and make their way as individuals. It was dangerous making the run in a convoy. Going alone with no escort was close to suicidal. Of the 35 ships, only 11 made it to the Soviet Union.  Churchill declared it one of the worst naval disasters of WWII..