Roar Uthaug's The Wave is the Norwegian answer to the American disaster blockbuster, a film that follows the disaster movie formula for the most part, but succeeds more so than most due to creating characters which the audience actually feels invested. The Wave takes place in Geiranger, part of Norway's Sunnmøre region, which is one of the biggest tourist draws in the world due its beautiful mountain landscapes which overlook a small village at the end of the fjord. For all its breathtaking beauty, tragedy could strike at any moment, as a collapse of the mountain into the fjord could create a tsumani, which would eradicate the entire village. After spending several years working at Geiranger's warning center, geologist Krisitan is moving on to a more prestigious job at an oil company, moving to the city with his wife and two children. On the very day he plans to leave with his family, the mountain begins to crumble, threatening the lives of every person in Geiranger who has only ten minutes to get to high ground to escape the impending tsunami. Roar Uthaug's The Wave is a simple, straight-forward disaster film which does what many have failed to do in recent years, show a true appreciation for human life. While many disaster films these days rely on excessive scenes of destruction to get arise out of their audience, The Wave shows empathy for its characters, and I'm not just talking about its main protagonists' plight. Disaster sequences these days often rub me the wrong way, with the filmmakers feeling like psychopathic deities amused by the death and destruction, but The Wave is different in that every death and loss of life is felt on an emotional level. There is a genuine level of sadness The Wave creates around the loss of life that few films of the genre are capable of, with the film making it a priority to capture the aftermath of such a disaster, forcing the viewer to gaze and reflect on the death, destruction, and loss of human life. By today's standards, The Wave is a minuscule disaster film from a carnage perspective, and perhaps the film's most important attribute is its ability to serve as a reminder that size isn't everything (see what I did there?), packing more tension and terror into its disaster sequence than most disaster films in recent years. While The Wave does struggle a bit towards the end, relying on wholly unnecessary "oh no, now the main protagonist is going to die saving his family" narrative beat, this is a well-crafted disaster film that should serve as a good reminder to Hollywood that the size of the disaster isn't always what is important, while also showing that making a disaster movie with emotional resonance is not an oxymoron.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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