Watch it / read it and be well entertained. You will not regret it.
“Farlig tomandsfærd” by Ejnar Mikkelsen
(and now also by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Do you know the saying:
“Watch the film, read the book and buy the record”?
and have you been disappointed if you changed the order?
– that is, read the book before you watched the film?
Have you ever thought about why that is?
It is because:
When we read a good book, we are at the same time playing our very own film before our inner eye.
That film is packed with fine details and moods that we pick up while we are caught up in the book.
Skilled film people can rarely match our own inner director.
That is why it is often a disappointment to see the film after you have read the book.
Admittedly:
That is a little how I feel about Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s new film from Greenland, which premiered in early March 2022 – on Netflix.
But:
if you have not yet read the gripping story “Farlig Tomandsfærd”, or “Against the Ice” as it is called in English, I would absolutely recommend that you watch the film and be well entertained for a little under two hours.
Teaser:
In 1909 the small schooner “Alabama” sailed from Copenhagen towards North East Greenland with seven men on board.
Ejnar Mikkelsen, only 28 years old, was the expedition leader.
The mission was to find the three men who died on the Denmark expedition.
It was also Mikkelsen’s task to find the dead men’s diaries and observation journals, which were of decisive importance to the Danish state from a geopolitical perspective
– does that still sound like a current issue?
When Mikkelsen and Iversen came back from a long sledge journey, they found a small hut built from wreckage from the expedition ship.
The ship’s name board had been placed over the door as a greeting from the comrades who were no longer there.
For more than two years the two men were, quite literally, snowed in,
trapped on the deserted coast of North East Greenland.
Hunger, cold and polar bear attacks were part of everyday life.
The friendship held despite the impossible circumstances.
Ejnar Mikkelsen tells all of that dramatically and movingly, but also with humour, in his book “Farlig Tomandsfærd”, which has now become a film.
Oddly enough, their sealskin clothing stays beautiful and glossy throughout the film.
The only thing that gets a few marks of wear is Mikkelsen’s (Waldau’s) knitted hat…
That was certainly not how it was back then for Ejnar Mikkelsen and Iver Iversen.
Both their skin clothing and their kamiks were worn and threadbare.
They got wet. They slept in them. Lived in them, dwelt in them and, most importantly:
They could last the whole journey, because they were made of good materials.
The kamik post would like you to know:
that it was actually Queen Margrethe who served the idea for the film to the director Peter Flinth.
In connection with a Hans Christian Andersen film adaptation, for which the Queen made the costumes, she recommended that Peter Flinth read the book “Farlig Tomandsfærd” by Ejnar Mikkelsen.
She thought that book could well make an excellent film.
Judge for yourself whether you agree with her – and with me.
Watch the film, read the book, buy the record, as they say.
