excellent submarine saga

Rating: Null/10 (22 July 2002)

`K-19: The Widowmaker' is a superb Cold War submarine saga, brilliantly directed by Kathryn Bigelow and featuring solid performances by a first-rate cast. Based on a true story that occurred in 1961, but which only came to light in the West after the fall of the Soviet Union, `K-19' shows how close the world came to experiencing a nuclear explosion thanks to rank Soviet incompetence. `K-19' was the pride of the Russian navy, a nuclear-powered sub that the leaders felt would help the Soviets achieve parity with the United States in the escalating arms race occurring at that time. But on the boat's maiden voyage things managed to go terribly wrong, thanks mostly to the gross ineptitude of the leaders in charge of building and equipping the boat. Poorly made, inadequately supplied and lacking the necessary back up plans in case of a dire emergency, the sub set out on its mission with not one but two captains aboard, Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) and Alexi Vostrikov (Harrison Ford), the latter sent in by the Soviet higher-ups to take over the mission after questions arose as to the ability of Polenin to handle such a crucially important mission. Much of the tension in the film arises from the conflict that develops between the humanitarian instincts of Polenin and the hard-nosed, almost maniacally rigid Vostrikov who seems almost willing to sacrifice the lives of his men rather than to admit defeat of any kind.
Working off the screenplay by Christopher Kyle, director Bigalow minimizes the clichés usually associated with films set aboard submarines and concentrates instead on the human drama at the story's core. Sure we have the obligatory scene wherein the obsessed captain, wanting to push both the boat and the crew to their respective limits, ends up ordering that the sub be taken down to near-crush level. But that scene is kept very short and comprises only a very small part of the whole drama. Of much greater interest to the filmmakers  and to the audience  is the way in which the men react to a crisis of almost unimaginable proportions. When the core nuclear reactor gives way and the men are faced with the threat of death through radiation poisoning, the film becomes both a gripping suspense drama and a poignant study of fear, duty and heroism. Bigalow keeps the tension high throughout by recording not only the fascinating details of the reactor disaster itself, but also the clash that develops between the two captains as they struggle for power and try to weigh the lives of the men against the importance of the mission and the patriotic call to duty.

Technically, the film does a superb job keeping focused on the intense drama of the situation. With superb editing and sound effects, the film makes us sense what life must really be like aboard that sub. Bigalow effectively uses the moving camera techniques pioneered by Wolfgang Peterson in `Das Boot' to help keep the action flowing. She is also blessed with a fine cast including Ford and Neeson who play off each other brilliantly, both actors showing the same stubbornness and humanity that define each of their characters, even though they seem to be at loggerheads during much of the time. Peter Sarsgaard is also excellent as the inexperienced crewmember who struggles with his own conflict between fear and duty, heroism and cowardice.
Though the film does become a bit heavy-handed and sentimental in its closing stretches, `K-19' is, over all, one of the more intelligent action movies of the past several years. It also happens to be the best submarine picture since the classic `Das Boot.'