Into The White (2012)

Set during the World War II, English and German army shot each other after a violent encounter over the cold landscape of Norway. The 3 Germans and 2 British found themselves together when they seek refuge in a remote cabin to survive the brutal weather. The two started out at opposite ends of each other, but isolated in the harsh winter, the two opposition tried to look beyond their differences and found common ground.

Into The White also known as Cross of Honor is a 2012 Norwegian film by Petter Næss. The story is adapted from a similar event involving german and british pilots during the World War II. After the initial crash that brought them to the middle of nowhere of harsh wintry Norway. The two sides found refuge in an abandoned cabin. As the two sides are opposition at war, their country stance extended the initial condition in the cabin at first. The germans outnumbering the british, are taking the brits as their war prisoner. Still, to survive they have to rely on each others, utilizing all available resources as efficiently as possible. Putting their military life training to use, learning to share, unconventional method of first aid and technology. Their initial adversary blurred and forgotten, as both sides learn to cope with each other and rely on one another to ensure their survival against Nature.

The film is promoting the massage of peace, like what both parties in the film eventually found. Away from the overall look of their countries adversary in way and into a more intimate setting. They both overlook their differences, seeing pass the atributes, and begin to regard each other as human. They were unified by one goal, to survive. The theme of course is not something new, in fact it has been done so repeatedly before. There were really nothing special about the film premise. You can adapt the setting to the modern day and it wouldn’t changed much of the story. However the portrayal of the character keeps the story afloat. The german trio: Josef Auchtor (David Kross), Karl-Heinz Strunk (Stig Henrik Hoff), lead by Lt. Horst Schopis (Florian Lukas) are tough and hard, yet possess a sensitive humanistic element a quality that made me emphatise for the three. Very different from s to Capt. Davenport (Lachlan Nieboe) and his scouse-spoken airman Smith (Rupert Grint) who seems shallow and spoiled in contrasts.

I admit my reason to watch the film is solely because i need to see Rupert do something after Harry Potter franchise ended (and this post is just a guerilla attempt to blow some of my frustration about Rupert Grint). Mind you, i personally think he’s the best actor out of the golden trio, yet Daniel Radcliffe keeps taking on his artistic project and Emma Watson keep getting one jobs after another (and they are good projects too!). Yet, after the average Driving Lessons (2006) and Wild Target (2009), the indie direct-to-dvd Cherrybomb (2009) with Robert Sheehan, Grint has not made any significant come back to the world of feature film. Blimey, even Tom Felton seems to have endless projects he’s been doing especially after moving to LA. So here’s hoping for a better future from Grint, he has several projects to be released soon including The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (with Shia LaBeouf and Mads Mikkelsen), CBGB, Cross Country,and a lead in a CBS pilot Super Clyde. So Rupes, Please do not make your performance in Ed Sheeran’s Lego House as the highlight of your post-Potter career.

Into The White promotes a positive message beyond the ugliness of war. The premise and plot might be cliche, but at least it was performed by a solid cast. It was well produced, but only manage to give a somewhat satisfactory feelings at the end. And no, not even Rupert Grint singing in the film persuaded me to give a more generous score to the film.

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INTO THE WHITE (2012)

GENRE Historical, Drama 
DIRECTOR Petter Næss | PRODUCER Peter Aalbæk Jensen, Valerie Edwina Saunders | WRITER Ole Meldgaard, Dave Mango, Petter Næss | MUSIC Hans Zimmer | CINEMATOGRAPHER Daniel Voldheim | EDITOR Frida Eggum Michaelsen | STUDIO Zentropa International Norway, Film i Väst, Trollhättan Film AB, Zentropa Entertainments | DISTRIBUTOR Scanbox Entertainment | COUNTRY Norway, Sweden | RUNNING TIME 100 minutes | RATING R for language | RELEASE June 14, 2013
STARRING David Kross, Stig Henrik Hoff, Florian Lukas, Rupert Grint, Lachlan Nieboe

Pictures from various google image search result | Watch the trailer.