Both "Narvik" and "Krigsseileren" (War Sailor) help to bring the history of Norway's contribution during WWII to a wider audience, and that's a good thing.
There are not many movies or series about the merchant marines, let alone merchant marines in WWII. I can think of only two that are worth watching: "Mr Roberts" and "Murphy's War" - the former not really about merchant marines (they were US Navy sailors) but close enough.
There were some 35,000 Norwegians in the merchant navy, and about 10% of them died during the war. Overall, a total of more than 30,000 merchant marines from all countries lost their lives. The contributions and the sacrifices these men and women made deserve to be better known.
The Good: "Krigsseileren" is an important series for the fact stated above. We get an intimate look at their lives on and off the ships. The cinematography was good, using darkness and yellow light-bulb colors in internal shots. The sound design was also good, especially with the constant string tempo.
The Bad: The low budget quality is understandable and excusable, but the meandering plot was a poor decision. This short series could have been much more impactful had it kept to a tighter story, perhaps focusing only on one particularly dangerous voyage and from the perspective of one or two mariners.
And I think a movie format would have been better, also. Overall "Krigsseileren" was a good effort, but failed in the end to make a meaningful impact due to its plot and story choices.
There are not many movies or series about the merchant marines, let alone merchant marines in WWII. I can think of only two that are worth watching: "Mr Roberts" and "Murphy's War" - the former not really about merchant marines (they were US Navy sailors) but close enough.
There were some 35,000 Norwegians in the merchant navy, and about 10% of them died during the war. Overall, a total of more than 30,000 merchant marines from all countries lost their lives. The contributions and the sacrifices these men and women made deserve to be better known.
The Good: "Krigsseileren" is an important series for the fact stated above. We get an intimate look at their lives on and off the ships. The cinematography was good, using darkness and yellow light-bulb colors in internal shots. The sound design was also good, especially with the constant string tempo.
The Bad: The low budget quality is understandable and excusable, but the meandering plot was a poor decision. This short series could have been much more impactful had it kept to a tighter story, perhaps focusing only on one particularly dangerous voyage and from the perspective of one or two mariners.
And I think a movie format would have been better, also. Overall "Krigsseileren" was a good effort, but failed in the end to make a meaningful impact due to its plot and story choices.