Dark Snows
The Dim Mysteries and Unanswered Questions of Svart Krabba (”Black Crab”) (2022)
Continuing on my cinematic dive into the Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) rabbit hole, I came across a bit of a sleeper in Svart Krabba (”Black Crab”) (2022). Boxed into the framework of a “gang of misfits” suicide mission military thriller, though not quite of the ilk of The Dirty Dozen (1967), our heroes are expected to embark on a key operation. They must deliver a pair of mysterious packages across an arctic wasteland, an unusually frozen body of water [insert obligatory “on thin ice” scene here] they must traverse to deposit the critical (and critically Top Secret, of course), military items with their waiting superiors. The catch? They are going to do it on ice skates.
Cinematographer Jonas Alarik (Caliphate, The Playlist) crafts a dark and convincing picture of a post apocalyptic... Scandinavia? It is an ambiguity that bleeds through almost every aspect of the film and its exceptional visuals (shades of Nicolas Winding Refn in colour).
By dropping us all into it in medias res, director Adam Berg amplifies the dark to the point where viewers a left to wonder what horrible fate has befallen this refugee and homeless infested world.
Outstanding sound design only adds to the wonderfully brooding ambience. It is a feeling well-fostered by the unseen enemy that lurks everywhere. A zombie outbreak? Alien invasion? A significant nuclear exchange?
Berg is courageous enough to leave many questions unanswered (Was that really the lost girlfriend on the radio? Or some kind of trap? Are we the baddies?) but the film is the better for it.
Aside from a few weapons handling slips (please don’t muzzle everyone with that rifle, you are the lead actor) Rapace plays a passable female action hero, and rarely needs to rely on physicality to extract herself from her many predicaments, often a fatal flaw in action films with a heroine lead. (C.f.: Charlize Theron, Atomic Blonde).
She begins the narrative well-worn, and, as her team members befall their respective fates, finds herself ground down further and further until there is little left of the hollowed-out shell of a woman that first embarked on the dark winter quest.
Deeper and deeper the team treks, as the environment and its pitfalls claim more than morale and motivation. The cold seems to leak from the screen and into the bones of the viewer and signs of darker deeds than should surround heroic rebels are revealed in turns as the odyssey pulls the viewer deeper and deeper into the wreckage of war and the churned up detritus left in the wake of forces bent on oblivion.
The journey takes its toll, of course, on more than just materiel. A dear price paid that the film agonisingly reveals only in stages.
Her accolades for a “successful” mission include the “medal of honour” with a nod to the tradition of the Victoria Cross (all other soldiers no matter their rank must salute her first). Her glory is fleeting, however, and her contribution to victory tainted by the question: should her side (entirely willing to manipulate a mother’s love of her daughter to coerce her into the mission) actually win?
What remains of our heroine aside the scars she now wears? Less than she took with her, certainly, but perhaps some semblance of redemption (or at least solace) may balance out the deeds (and their aims) that the mission demanded.
Svart Krabba is more than another female-led action flick and well worth immersing oneself in its exceptional visuals and auditory ambience for its 114 minute run time. 8.0/10.0.
Fantastic breakdown of how ambiguity can strengthen a film rather than weaken it. The choice to leave viewers unsure about who's even the 'good guys' in a war film is pretty bold and kinda rare these days. I watched The Road a while back and had similar feelings aobut that apocalyptic vagueness, where not knowing what caused everything almost makes it more terrifying than any explanation could.