The Great Barents Wintering Somewhere at the edge of the world, beyond the Arctic Circle, the harsh ice capped a caravel of Dutch sailors who filled the white spots in navigation charts, exploring the northern seas with the aim of making their way to India through the Arctic. However, the ship's captain, Jacob van Hemskerk, made the mistake of circumnavigating the large northern island of the New Earth archipelago on the wrong side, thus subjecting the crew to a brutal ordeal. They were met by icebergs, treacherous currents, blowing through the wind and rapidly advancing frosts. Spangout cracked, the strained veins of ship gear groaned from strain, and when the oak boards surrendered under the pressure of petrified water, the team came ashore to meet winter. From the wreckage of the ship, they built a house, building a hearth and several couches to hold out until the day, which in this country of polar bears and permafrost will come only in six months. The chronicle of the events was kept in his diary by Gerrit de Fer, the chronicler of the expedition.
The legend of Willem Barents’ big wintering in a distant land is dedicated to this first Dutch film in 3D. It should be assumed that modern technology fully allows you to feel the hardships of sailors. Here you overgrown gloomy men, at first laughing at a young scientist, and then, according to the laws of the genre, imbued with respect for him. The gray makeup on their faces bears the seal of despair, scurvy and death. Realistic Amsterdam, mired in the Middle Ages and mud. Fog above the water. Sweet lips of the beloved, accompanying the hero on a long voyage. Pushing up the masts of the ship, hung with rigging. The violin deck. A desolate country made of ice and darkness, filled only with eerie cold and hostility to a bunch of hunched figures who don’t even have blankets, fur coats and hats just to keep people warm! Oh, Urlemans, following de Fer's diary, is ruthless to the heroes of his film story. He makes them pay with their lives for the great geographical discoveries.
Small author’s liberties (for example, there were more survivors, and they were picked up after all by the Russians, not the Danes) are more than compensated for by a tangible atmosphere of hopelessness, where it is required, and important details of the expedition that are omitted by history and observations valuable for science replace the details of life and characters of rough sailors. Almost unknown in the big movie Flemish actors regularly play the roles of unhappy sailors, and the sad symphonic music of a whole team of composers deepens the licked picture of an experienced, but generally not outstanding operator Lennert Hillege.
The creators offer to hoist stereo glasses on the nose, to throw away the remote so that there is no temptation to pause or rewind some long episodes, and enter the threshold of Behouden Huys – a place that brave sailors have made their temporary home. Let no one jump out of the screen, and there are almost no dynamic scenes, but this is what the author intended: more realism, more sympathy for exhausted and dull characters. This is a European movie, dark and chamber. The film was produced mainly in Iceland (field shooting), Bruges (recreated Amsterdam at the end of the 16th century), and the Russian frigate Standard, which served as the living decoration of the Barents ship. And although the spirit of the "New Land" tends to scale, say, "Master of the Seas", in fact it turned out a very personal and significant for national history picture, the good theme has: with the expeditions of Barents and van Hemskerk began the expansion of the Dutch by sea and their prosperity in trade.
Contrary to the laudable desire of the director to make the film credible, he had to sacrifice details of historical references and deliberately distort the document of Gerrit de Fer, designated in the credits as a co-author of the script, in favor of dubious entertainment in the finale, without which nowhere in the box office of such a tape. Climbing from the frame to the viewer luxurious forms and the glamorous face of supermodel Doutzen Kroes, invited to the project for prestige, spoil the impression of the rigidity of the original idea. Nevertheless, the film arouses interest in the retold page of the story, encouraging the viewer to study the details of that unsuccessful campaign and instilling respect for the people who went through it. In the words of one of the sailors, “it is important not to leave, but to return.” The returnees became true heroes, de Fer’s published diary became a bestseller, the morale of compatriots rose, and the observations of Barents’ colleagues were confirmed hundreds of years later, causing bewilderment until now. The movie did not cause a stir, but the latest romantics and lovers of the era of great geographical discoveries to watch is a must, and the astrolabe to help you!