Into the White

Into the White (also known as Comrade, Lost in the Snow and Cross of Honour in the United Kingdom) is a 2012 film set during the Second World War and directed by Petter Næss. It is inspired by and loosely based on real-life events that occurred in Norway during the war.

Into the White
Directed byPetter Næss
Produced byPeter Aalbæk Jensen
Valerie Edwina Saunders
Written byOle Meldgaard
Dave Mango
Petter Næss
StarringStig Henrik Hoff
David Kross
Florian Lukas
Lachlan Nieboer
Rupert Grint
Music byNils Petter Molvaer
CinematographyDaniel Voldheim
Edited byFrida Eggum Michaelsen
Production
company
Zentropa International Norway
Film i Väst
Trollhättan Film AB
Zentropa Entertainments
Distributed byScanbox Entertainment
Release date
  • 4 March 2012 (2012-03-04) (Filmfest Oslo)
  • 9 March 2012 (2012-03-09) (Norway)
  • 29 August 2013 (2013-08-29) (Sweden: DVD premiere)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryNorway
Sweden
LanguageEnglish
Norwegian
German
Box office$712,216 (worldwide)[1]

Into the White was written by Ole Meldgaard, Dave Mango and Petter Næss and directed by Næss. The film stars David Kross, Stig Henrik Hoff, Florian Lukas, Rupert Grint and Lachlan Nieboer.

Plot

On 27 April 1940, a Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 bomber (1H+CT) is pursued near Grotli by a Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua (L2940) fighter. Three of the four German crew survive the crash: pilot Leutnant Horst Schopis (Florian Lukas), Unteroffizier Josef Schwartz (David Kross) and Feldwebel Wolfgang Strunk (Stig Henrik Hoff). They prepare then set off for the coast to rejoin the fighting. When a snowstorm develops, they lose their supplies and encounter a hunter's cabin. Two British airmen from the other downed aircraft, Capt. Charles P. Davenport (Lachlan Nieboer) and his air gunner Robert Smith (Rupert Grint), are heard to approach the cabin. They start to deal with each other in the cabin. The following morning, an attempt to set out for help is abandoned when they start to get separated by the snowstorm.

A Norwegian patrol is dispatched to look for the downed German airmen; when they encounter Smith and Strunk skiing downhill, a Norwegian sniper fatally shoots Strunk and captures Smith.

Portside, a Norwegian officer interrogates the Britons, perceiving them collaborators. Davenport explains what happened and silences the interrogating officer.

Shopis and Schwartz become prisoners of war in Canada; Smith and Davenport are returned to combat action. Davenport eventually survives the war.

Cast

The main cast for the film includes:[2]

Production

Although a realistic mock-up of a Heinkel He 111 bomber is used, nearly all of the production is set in a cabin with only occasional exterior scenes, prompting one reviewer to note that the film was more like a play.[3] Filming began 28 March 2011 with three weeks of shooting in Grotli, Norway, near where the actual events occurred, with some scenes being shot in Trollhättan and Brålanda, Sweden.[4] The finished film was released in March 2012.[5]

Historical accuracy

Actual events
See also: Norwegian Campaign

The film account is loosely based on historical events, although the British characters' names are changed. Captain R.T. Partridge is renamed Charles P. Davenport and Lieutenant R.S. Bostock became Robert Smith. The German characters' names bear more resemblance names of their real-life counterparts. Three British Royal Navy Blackburn Skuas operating from HMS Ark Royal attacked the Heinkel He 111 and knocked out the Germans' port engine. The German aircraft crashed 1,000 meters above sea level in a remote mountain area, miles from any major road. The German tail gunner Hans Hauck was dead when the bomber crashed.

Captain R.T. Partridge, squadron leader of the 800 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, experienced a failing engine in his Skua and glided down to land on a frozen lake. He had seen a small hut nearby and he and his radio operator, Lieutenant Bostock, hiked through heavy snow to the deserted reindeer hunters' cabin. A few minutes later, they were alerted by a whistle and saw the three survivors of the German Heinkel armed with pistols and knives. Speaking broken German and English, the British managed to persuade the Germans that they were the crew of a Vickers Wellington bomber, rather than the fighter that had shot them down. The Germans believed that they had been shot down by a Supermarine Spitfire.

In Luftkampfgegner wurden Freunde ("Air combat opponents became friends"), Horst Schopis wrote in his memoirs:[6]

As it was getting dark Captain Partridge suggested that the Germans stay in the hut. The two British officers left and found a small chalet, which turned out to be the Grotli Hotel, which was closed for the winter. The German crew arrived the next morning and shared breakfast. It was agreed that the Captain R. T. Partridge and the German Karl-Heinz Strunk would try to locate other people. They met a Norwegian ski patrol. Strunk shouted out "Ingleesh". The Norwegian patrol fired a warning shot at which Partridge fell to the ground and Strunk placed his hands on his head. Lieutenant Bostock emerged from the hotel, suspecting that the German had shot Partridge, but instead saw Strunk apparently reaching for his pistol. One of the Norwegians, seeing this, shot him.

The two German survivors—Hauptmann Schopis and mechanic Joseph Auchtor—were taken over the mountains to Stryn as prisoners. Later they were sent to Britain and on to a prison camp in Canada, where they remained until 1947. The German tail gunner Hans Hauck was given a memorial stone which still stands near the Grotli Hotel. Strunk was initially buried in Skjåk cemetery, then later transferred to the war cemetery in Trondheim.[7]

The British had some difficulty in convincing the Norwegians of their nationality until they showed the tailor's label on their uniforms and found a British half-crown coin. By sheer coincidence the commander of the Norwegian patrol turned out to be a brother-in-law of a friend of Captain Partridge. The two freed British airmen hiked into Ålesund, which was being defended by Royal Marines under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. As the destroyer scheduled to evacuate the British force failed to arrive, they commandeered a car and drove to the port of Åndalsnes, where they were eventually returned to the United Kingdom by the cruiser HMS Manchester.

Captain Partridge and Lieutenant Bostock took part in the attempt to sink the German battleship Scharnhorst on 13 June 1940. Partridge was shot down near Stallvik in the Trondheimsfjord and captured by German troops. Lieutenant Bostock was killed in another Blackburn Skua on the same raid.[8]

Both the German pilot Horst Schopis and the British pilot R.T. Partridge wrote books about their experiences before, during and after the war, entitled Luftkampfgegner wurden Freunde and Operation Skua.[9]

Blackburn Skua L2940 wreck on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

In 1974, the original L2940 was recovered from Breidalsvatnet lake near Grotli in Skjåk municipality[10] and the wreck is on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton. The original Heinkel wreck remains in the mountains at Grotli around 1,000 metres above sea level, left untouched in the snow.[11]

In 1974 and 2004, Horst Schopis visited Grotli, but died in 2011 at 99 years of age, one year before the film's release. British captain R.T. Partridge visited Grotli in 1974, and died in 1990.

Release and reception

Into the White premiered at the Filmfest Oslo in March 2012 and was subsequently widely released in Norway where it grossed $636,469.[12] In the US, the film had a limited release in select theatres.

Critical reviews were mixed, with some reviewers noting that the atmosphere and setting dominated to the detriment of the plot. Neil Lumbard in his review for DVD Talk, commented: "The entirety of the film revolves around a somewhat simplistic plot element, which is based on actual historical events, but doesn't engage much beyond the central concept of the film ... The film is slow paced and for some audience members this is an obvious detriment."[13]

It has a rating of 50% at Rotten Tomatoes.[14] As of 12 October 2014, the film received an approval rating of 7.1 out of 10 at IMDb.[15]

The trio of Årets lyddesign, Nikolai Linck and Andreas Kongsgaard were nominated for an Amanda Award for Best Sound Design in Into the White.

Home media

Into the White was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 28 August 2012 in Norway.[16]

References

Notes

  1. "'Into the White' (2013)." Box Office Mojo, 25 April 2013. Retrieved: 17 August 2013.
  2. " 'Comrade' - director's note." wehrmacht-awards.com. Retrieved: 28 April 2011.
  3. "Review: 'Into the White'." Abgeschminkt, 4 February 2013. Retrieved: 28 March 2015.
  4. Tom. "The amazing true story of a Norwegian ghost town’s wrecked Heinkel bomber." Urban Ghosts, 7 July 2013. Retrieved: 29 March 2015.
  5. Majbritt and Malene. "Report: RG.us exploring ‘Into the White’ in Grotli." exclusives.rupert-grint.us, 29 August 2011. Retrieved: 29 March 2015.
  6. Partridge 1983.
  7. Hosar, Kristian. "Tilbake til kampstedet etter 64 år (Return to the scene after 64 years)." Archived 23 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen, August 21, 2004 (Norwegian) via Operation Skua Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine website.
  8. Willis, Matthew and Simon Partridge. "Into the Fjord of Death". London: Aeroplane Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 8, August 2007, pp. 22–27.
  9. Lamo, Øyvind. 'Operation Skua' 30-Års Jubileum På Grotli, August 2004 (Operation Skua, 30 year anniversary of Grotli, August 2004) Archived 2014-01-04 at the Wayback Machine, BLHF's 'Luftposten' NR.2, Bodø 2004.
  10. NRK. "Naudlanding og kampar på Strynefjellet". Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  11. NRK (28 December 2010). "Krigsdrama frå Strynefjellet blir film". Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  12. 'Into the White Foreign Grosses'Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: 15 September 2015.
  13. Lumbard, Neil. "Review: 'Into the White'." DVD Talk, 21 July 2013. Retrieved: 28 March 2015.
  14. "'Into the White'." Rotten Tomatoes, 17 September 2013.
  15. "'Into the White'." IMDb. Retrieved: 12 October 2014.
  16. Mel. "'Into the White' gets DVD release date, first 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' trailer to air at the MTV Movie Awards." The Leaky Cauldron, 16 May 2012. Retrieved: 28 March 2015.

Bibliography

  • Partridge, Major R.T., DSO, RM. Operation Skua. Ilchester, Somerset, UK: Society of the Friends of the Fleet Air Arm Museum, RNAS Yeovilton, 1983. ISBN 0-902633-86-4.
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