“The
tense and gripping
environmental disaster thriller, The Burning Sea, centres on a
huge crack suddenly opening
in one of the world’s largest
oil fields in the North Sea,
threatening an enormous
ecological catastrophe with
massive loss of both sea and
human life...”
IN THE EXCITEMENT OF FINDING one of the world's largest and most successful
off-shore oil fields in the North Sea in 1969, the Norwegian government cannot
foresee potential dangers to both the workers lives and to the environment.
Fifty years on, in 2019, Stian (Henrik Bjelland: Now It's Dark), a senior
worker on the SAGA Corporation-owned oil rig Gullfaks A, lives alone with his
young son Odin (Nils Elias Olsen). His girlfriend Sofia (Kristine Kujath Thorp:
Ninja Baby) is staying with him and is keen to make their relationship
permanent.
“A
highly visual, exciting
and disturbingly
believable movie,
The Burning Sea
is packed with emotive
and thought-provoking
issues...”
Sofia
and her work partner Arthur (Rolf Kristian Larsen: Cold Play) have been
involved in the development of an underwater robot called Eelie, complete with
a camera. Arthur would like to be involved romantically with Sofia but she is
in love with Stian.
Without warning an oil rig collapses and disappears into the sea. Sofia and
Arthur are tasked with determining why this happened, assessing the damage and
searching for survivors. They quickly realise that not only is there huge danger
to all the oil rigs and the workers, but the resulting oil spill threatens to
wipe out all sea life and cause an environmental catastrophe with far-reaching
consequences that could take decades to reverse.
As SAGA Corporation executive William Lie (Bjørn Flobert: Kingsman: The Secret
Service) refuses to accept the scale of the disaster, Sofia is distraught
when Stian risks his life by volunteering to shut down the leaking oil well
below his rig.
Stian's friend Ronny (Anders Baasmo) has been overseeing the survivors being
airlifted to safety, but has heard nothing from Stian who is trapped on the
sea bed. Convinced against all the odds he is still alive, Sofia commandeers
a rescue helicopter piloted by Stian's sister Vibeke (Mariann Rostøl) and once
on the rig Sofia and Arthur use Eelie to search the stricken oil rig on a rescue
mission fraught with danger.
With William Lie suggesting setting fire to the escaping oil as a way of preventing
an ecological disaster, time becomes critical and there seems to be no certain
way of preventing further loss of life.
A highly visual, exciting and disturbingly believable movie, The Burning
Sea is packed with emotive and thought-provoking issues. The company Eelume
featured in the movie actually exists as do the snake-like underwater robots.
A thriller for our times, The Burning Sea also features: Anneke von der
Lippe as Gunn; Ane Skumsvoll as Berit, a SAGA Corporation official; Christoffer
Staib as Oil and Energy Minister Steiner Skagemo; Cengiz Al as Jasin; and Amy
Black Ndiaye as Secretary of State.
Music is by Johannes Ringen and Johan Soderqvist; Cinematography by Pål Ulvik
Rokseth; Writers are: Harald Rosenlow-Eeg and Lars Gudmestad; Producers are:
Therese Bøhn, Catrin Gundersen and Martin Sundland; Directed by John Andreas
Andersen.
Produced by the Norwegian team responsible for The Quake and The Wave,
The Burning Sea is released by the Elysian Film Group Distribution on
digital platforms on 30 May 2022. Running Time: 104 Minutes | Language: Norwegian
with easy to read English subtitles.
"A highly visual, exciting and disturbingly believable movie, The Burning
Sea is packed with emotive and thought-provoking issues…" —****
Maggie Woods, MotorBar
"I cannot recall a movie's ending haunting me this much" —Flickfilosopher
“The
tense and gripping