User reviews

Structured like a sweeping epic, Krigsseileren tells about the efforts of Norwegian commercial sailors in the Atlantic theatre during WWII. Two of Norwegian cinema's best actors over the past 10 to 20 years, Kristoffer Joner and Pål Sverre Hagen, play Alfred and Sigbjørn, two friends and conflicting personalities who deal with the pressures of the war operations and their ensuing effects on their personal lives after the war in each their own way. Left behind in Norway are Alfred's wife and children - and a whole nation with a lacking understanding of the war sailors' efforts and experiences. Writer/director Gunnar Vikene (Himmelfall) clearly has made it his personal agenda to tell the story of this oft-forgotten group of people, and although such passionate drive sometimes leads to indulgence, the film's strong sense of humanity and compassion elevates it and carries it through even in parts where the narrative staggers. A combination of authenticity, technical brilliance, and a clear artistic framework makes this into an all-encompassing viewing experience. That's Joner's own daughter Téa Grønner Joner playing his character's oldest child after the war.

I like Norwegian productions because they are in their way innovative and do not tend to copy what others do. Usually they have a pretty high standard, like this one.

The special effects, the story, the acting, the historical reconstructions, all are very good. The movie is emotional, it speaks about the second world war, but is never political. Just a story of heroes and war, stuff that happen before, during, and after the war.

It doesn't try to be polite, or push propaganda, it tells what could really happen when you are a sailor, part of the biggest fleet of ships, away from you family, trying to survive and hence come home. It speaks about values, future, and what really matters. In one word: intense.

How is it that the recognised luminaries in Hollywood can't do delivery like this anymore ? War and its brutality in full technicolour. Very reminiscent of Das Boot ( and feel deliberately so ), warts and all. I think the main thrust of the production is to highlight the lack of recognition most of these merchant seamen went through to keep the allies ahead of the fascists. More so, the country itself, whilst under occupation. The scene with young Aksel is particularly poignant and makes its point very succinctly. At times the pace is slow, but don't let that put you off, as overall it's particularly well done.

One of the best war movies I've seen. I thought I'd seen so many war and catastrophe movies I'd become numb to the emotional drama and could only be stimulated by history lessons and battlefield action but this one gripped me. The storytelling and cinematography was oddly neutral and engaging at the same time, avoiding over the top melodrama and anticlimatically predictable climaxes, sticking to the point over a nonlinear plotline for three hours. The lack of cliche and subtelty made the movie seem lifelike and relevant unlike so many other historical dramas. For instance the way you learned of the sinking of the first crew or the reaction to being dropped in shallow water from the oily survivor. The life and the sadness in every scene made this movie worth watching.

The story is amazing, the cinematography is great, and the deapth of each look really leaves a mark.

The lead actors are really good, and probably norway's best ones. But the thing about norwegian movies is that the dialog seams sooo forced. I don't know if it is just me that is too stricht, but both Kristoffer Joner and Pål Sverre Hagen are such good actors when it comes to body language, facial expression and overrall feeling, that I expect the dialogs to be better. The way the manuscript is written probably shoud take a lot of the blame, and is, in my opinion, what stops a lot of norwegian produced films from being great. On the other hand, all the acting in other forms then spreach leaves me speachless! The looks, the feelings, the body language, the details, the entire mood of the movie is worth admiring.

The love and care that is shown between these caracters breaks my heart, it is delivered in such a delicate, vulnerable way.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, it enlightens a part of history that I really have not given much thought.

This movie, about a sailor who is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when the World War II breaks out, is a very deep and impactful journey where we experience the pain of war. The cinematography was great and the depression was clear. I think the main actors were incredible, especially Kristoffer Joner (as Alfred) and Pål Sverre Hagen (as Sigbjørn). The story was sometimes quite dark, and it was emotional to watch. My main critic of this movie is its runtime. It was far too stretched, which made the movie a little boring sometimes. I understand if this was supposed to make the movie feel sad and empty, but I had too much of that feeling. I wish it was more compact with more action, which would make the movie more exciting. Anyway, worth a watch!

I'm partial to films based on historic events and facts. The dramatizations give us a glimpse into how those events affected individual lives, lending a better understanding of the past and the present.

The high quality production values of this series include a delicately understated script (always a favorite), compelling performances, and sensitive direction. The friendship between the two main characters struggling to follow their better angels is a haunting backdrop to the horrors of war.

The heartbreaking denouement is a reminder of the persistent scars and lifelong consequences for veterans and the society at large. The film is not an indictment of war, but rather the aggressor.

Both "Narvik" and "Krigsseileren" (War Sailor) help to bring the history of Norway's contribution during WWII to a wider audience, and that's a good thing.

There are not many movies or series about the merchant marines, let alone merchant marines in WWII. I can think of only two that are worth watching: "Mr Roberts" and "Murphy's War" - the former not really about merchant marines (they were US Navy sailors) but close enough.

There were some 35,000 Norwegians in the merchant navy, and about 10% of them died during the war. Overall, a total of more than 30,000 merchant marines from all countries lost their lives. The contributions and the sacrifices these men and women made deserve to be better known.

The Good: "Krigsseileren" is an important series for the fact stated above. We get an intimate look at their lives on and off the ships. The cinematography was good, using darkness and yellow light-bulb colors in internal shots. The sound design was also good, especially with the constant string tempo.

The Bad: The low budget quality is understandable and excusable, but the meandering plot was a poor decision. This short series could have been much more impactful had it kept to a tighter story, perhaps focusing only on one particularly dangerous voyage and from the perspective of one or two mariners.

And I think a movie format would have been better, also. Overall "Krigsseileren" was a good effort, but failed in the end to make a meaningful impact due to its plot and story choices.

Just when we thought nothing of quality is left, nothing worth our time, what we have left of it. War Sailor shows up on Netflix. As real a depiction of events which shaped our world as you are likely to see. Transportation to another place and time at a historic moment in history, for the price of your Netflix subscription. Driven by a massive budget, insightful direction and powered by a screenplay that at times seems as if the words spoken were transcribed as they were overheard. Empowering performances that transcend the ordinary. Your mind tells you these are actors but your eyes and heart tell you differently. You come to believe this is real flesh and blood torn by events unfolding in Europe as the spreading war takes its toll. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the two first episodes but, I found the last episode boring due to the lack of dialogue.

Dialogue helps to create tension, and move the plot forward. Without dialogue (Or at least very little of it), it became challenging for to maintain the interest in the story and it became visually and emotionally monotonous.

The lack of conversation between the characters left me feeling disconnected from the story and the characters themselves. The last episode had a far to slow pace and lacked action of any kind.

I enjoyed the acting, the scenario and the storyline up until the third episode. Although the third episode had some pretty decent makeup.

A superb war movie!

What a pleasant surprise this film turned out to be. The cinematography, editing, effects and music are all top notch and help tell a story about some great characters. I feared it would be a Michael Bay-ish, bombastic, humorless action fest. It's not.

This is a somber film about the horrors of war, both for the men and their families back home. Joner and Hagen both give superb performances, but the strong supporting actors are the real surprise.

I spoke to a war historian after the screening, who also loved the film, and his biggest complaint was the lack of hair cuts and one piece of clothing in one scene. I'd say that is pretty good.

This is a human story, so the language barrier shouldn't be a problem. I urge you to check it out if you're interested in war history or human dramas in general. Also, the fact that they made this on what is a shoestring budget in Hollywood, is impressive!

No wonder this is Norway's candidate for best Foreign Language Film at next year's Academy Awards. It's a tough one to beat. Two thumbs way up!

I always love war movies, either it's the action or the drama because I like history and the devastation caused by WW2 is again presented very well in this miniseries.

Without much drama, we can feel the mood, it means the dialog, the directing and the acting are very good. I don't know whether giving a hint of what's gonna happen at the beginning of the miniseries is good or bad, but it helps lowering the tension but nicely there are some surprises coming in the middle of the miniseries.

Nothing much on the special effects, but so sufficient to tell the story.

Overall, I might be forgetting this miniseries soon, but it worth to watch.

A tribute to ordinary people going true war, both men, woman, children, at home, abroad. A tribute to historic detail and correct retelling of how it was. Fantastic authentic retelling of environments, showing how ordinary people lived their dailylife, worked and loved. A tribute to a generation. A tribute to Bergen city the old historic and cultural capital of Norway. A tribute to being "bergensk", the supressed Bergen street dialect that is almost died out, and the under-told story of coastal Norway. A tribute to a hughe historic profession at sea and coast and many brave man that after and under the war went true hell. I adore this movie. It is a love story to a generation gone, to the war how it was told by those there and to a city.

I heard about the outstanding reviews and emotionally captivating scenes, so I thought I HAVE to see this myself. I watched all 3 episodes. With difficulty, I must say. I didn't get any connection with the main characters and the reason for that was that the lead-up to dramatic development was never shown. For example: The boat they were on, sunk, but you never see the attack of a U-boat. And that goes on throughout the series. Only the aftermath of things, never they show you the prelude to it. And by doing this it never 'sucks you in' the emotion that would go with a COMPLETE scene. The scenes jump from year to year and show you just a brief moment of what happened in that specific year with the crew at sea and the family that stayed at home. The actors did their job well, but it was the script that skipped every prelude to the drama that followed and that was a missed change in my opinion. Therefore I watched the whole 3 hours without any emotions popping up whatsoever. The series starts in 1939 and ends in 1972 and it felt like I had to crawl through all those years. The series also fizzled out at the end and I thought: pfff, finally it's over. A meager six on my part.

This is another well-crafted war movie from Norway. Earlier, viewers were treated to a similar war movie, "Navik," also another well-made Norwegian production and shot in northern Norway.

What's impressive about War Sailor, which can be said about Narvik, too, is that it's a thoughtful movie without the obligatory hysteria that usually punctuates the genre.

The horrors of war don't distract the viewer from the compelling story that unfolds.

The major storyline may not be unique. There are war stories that highlight close friends in the battlefield who protect each other to the best of their abilities. A recent example is Devotion. Another is Band of Brothers.

This time around, the close friends are aboard merchant ships conscripted by the Norwegian government to the Allied war effort during the early part of World War II. This brings them to Malta and Liverpool en route to New York thence to Murmansk, Russia.

But aside from the gore of war that the limited series portrays, it also succeeds in driving home the raw emotions that loved ones torn apart by circumstance confront because of the reality of war wherever they are: in the high seas or in Bergen.

In the end, it's their love for each other, which can only be described as agape, that allows Freddy and Sigbjorn to survive the war and its aftermath.

There's this scene towards the end, when both men are in their seventies, in which Sigbjorn visits Freddie's family in Bergen on the occasion of the birthday of the latter's youngest son after so many years of absence. That scene is so gut-wrenching in unexpected ways.

The movie doesn't hesitate to inform the viewer, as an aside, of the losses inflicted on Norway for the sake of the Allied cause in terms of its citizens who died aboard its merchant ships as well as the number of such ships destroyed or sunk during the war.

This is a triumph of Norwegian cinema. Don't miss it.

The is what drives this movie, as it should be.

Other than the story, the rest of the package falls short.

Would have expected this movie to take it to the next level, but it didn't.

When it comes to a lot of the dialog, it doesn't seem natural. And it feels like a lot of the arguments are so unnecessary, and its all just raising their voice and cursing just to create some tention.

Also a movie with this kind of budget, i would have thought some resources would have gone to trying to imitate "old speech", like Kon tiki and Max manus did.

So the movie doesn't immerse you into the world, like it should.

Shows grit better than anything Hollywood has ever done. Rates right up there with "Gone With the Wind". By pure coincidence, Kristoffer Joner is also in the only film I have watched in a theater in the last 20 years, namely "The Revanant", although I can not identify his character there. The music score is melodious, but it reminds me of twisting, tortured, groaning steel and the pulse of large reciprocating engines. Amazing how perfectly the characters age through the years covered in the movie: 1939 to 1972. No propaganda, just a purely objective look at war through the eyes of civilians. I loved the little house on Askoy and it's setting. I just want to be there.

It is in many ways a good miniseries, all actors play well, the store is important to be told, the pictures are excellent, and there is nothing really wrong wit it.

But it lacks a bit of magic, something that puts us viewers a bit closer to the edge of the chair, gets us involved. Sometimes I had the feeling of watching somethin AI generated. Every scene serves a purpose, it follows the path to the conclusion, the lines are correct and are delivered precisely as one would expect. But without magic, without doing more or anything else than the expected.

The last episode left me a bit unfulfilled, the end is missing, the part where they make the ends meet.

Maybe they should have allowed the series to be longer, there is enough story to tell, there is too much that is left untold, and I enjoyed the company.

Anyway, I'm glad that I saw it, and I think you should give it a try.

PS: After seeing the Norwegian series Exit, it took me a while to adopt to two of the main characters roles in this one.

This is a story about the life of a merchant marine during World War 2. It is a sad story that is drawn out and very slow at times. While it initially appears interesting, the story is simply far too slow to hold one's interest. The acting is good, but that does not save the show from being dreary and sad. I give credit where credit is due, but this show is not one that is entertaining and more like a fictional documentary of someone who lived through some very difficult times during World War 2. You can speed watch this show and miss nothing. Just use the fast forward key on your remote and you will be glad you did.

Very impressive film from Norway! It tells the story of two Norwegian sailors who get caught up in the turmoil of the times during the Second World War.

Alfred (Kristoffer JONER, known from THE WAVE) and Sigbjörn (Pal Sverre HAGEN, known from KON-TIKI) are best buddies and go to sea together as civilian sailors, like many Norwegians did at the time. When the Second World War began with Hitler Germanys attack on Poland, of course no one asked anymore whether one was a soldier or a civilian sailor. So it happens that the two of them and their friends are drawn into the madness of war, from which there will be no escape for six years or more. At the same time, the fate of Alfred's family in Bergen is also followed. Cecilia (Ine Marie WILMANN, known from TROLL) does everything she can to keep her children alive. But then the Allies' disastrous attack on Bergen occurs, in which the school is also hit...

This film magnificently shows the many sufferings of the civilian population in times of war. Ordinary people just trying to make a living are drawn into the madness of carnage. This great film impressively shows the devastation this causes on the bodies and souls of those affected. A small flaw is the erratic narration, which makes the characters less relatable. Filming also took place in Northern Germany and Malta. Florian SCHMIDTKE (NETFLIX series BARBARIANS), Damian HARDUNG (DAS SCHÖNSTE MÄDCHEN DER WELT / THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD) and Max HUBACHER (DER HAUPTMANN / THE CAPTAIN) appear in smaller roles.

The attack on Bergen reminded me of the events in Esens in East Frisia in 1943, where entire school years were wiped out by a bomb on a school. It's hard to imagine what that meant for small towns like Bergen and Esens. This madness of war was and is reality!

By the way, the music for the film comes from Volker BERTELMANN, who just received an ACADEMY AWARD for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.