The Command

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Most know about the Kursk incident yet know little otherwise. A terrible Cold War accident in which one of Russia's cutting edge subs sank due to an internal explosion - with survivors. The surviving crew was detected by the Russians who wouldn't ask for crucial help in the short window of saving those still alive. Expected? Well it's not a project such as The International Space Station - vastly different long-standing veils of secrecy dictate the Russian's inept posturing and faulty decisions. This is the story we haven't, mostly, been aware of. It's chilling as it depicts the human cost. This movie seems to pull few punches and doesn't bow to Hollywood-like bombast. It isn't meant to entertain so much as to enlighten with respectful homage given the crew. It succeeds and is a film that is easy to highly recommend.

First, The sinking was in August 2000. The Russian subs used at the Titanic which is referenced in this movie during the failed rescue scene never occurred in that year. They loaned them to James Cameron for his Ghosts of the Abyss from August to Sept in 2001, 1 year after the Kursk sinking. Did anyone research this or just tossed in this inaccuracy for more filler?

Firstly some facts: 1) despite half dozen or so peacetime submarine accidents with casualties of about 100, in comparison to peacetime army, surface navy, air force, both the US and USSR/Russian submarine services have been relatively low causality. Peacetime submarine service is less fatalities per man year than occur in land vehicle accidents, air crashes etc. 2) In the US and USSR and Russian Navy's NO ONE is forced into submariner service. During conscription and volunteer (US) and conscription (USSR/Russia), assignment to submarine is elite and sought after assignment for both officers and enlisted personnel. 3) No one, not the US, not the Chinese, not the USSR/Russians is going to ask or allow help from an adversary in raising or rescuing personnel on a nuclear submarine, especially a advanced one. Both ballistic missile and attack submarines are closely guarded secrets. The US spent present value four BILLION dollars to pull up a few pieces of a sunken Russian submarine, whose wreckage was at 16,000 feet (5 kilometers deep) in the pacific. It was a massive secret operation because learning anything of a soviet submarine was of huge value (google: Project Azorian). These are high order state military secrets. Yes most anyone who goes to sea, even adversaries, are inclined to help. But refusal to take assistance is also the rule with nuclear armed submarines on all sides. Ballistic and nuclear submarine service is in essence war footing all the time including during peacetime. Any and all information about a submarine is useful to the adversary and even seemingly trivial data puts all other submarines on your side at risk -- and therefore reduced the deterrent effect of your submarine force. 4) it is a virtual certainty that US, UK or other NATO assistance could not have saved a single life on the Kursk. Kursk's bow was 75' into the mud and the boat was at a list of 60 degrees; meaning given all the rescue methods that at the time relied on vacuum seal would not work. 5) Some commentators here are repeating long debunked myths that the Kurks was sunk in a collision with a US boat or some other external cause. While that was always an unlikely scenario, it could not be ruled out at the time -- BUT for a decade they Russian Navy and sober Russians have known,with 100% certainty, this was a torpedo malfunction inside the Kursk. Ok, I am not fan at all of Soviet communism, of Russian nationalism under Putin, but this film is not bashing those evils -- it is bashing the Russian navy and doing so with falsehoods. it is political elements in Russia that underfunded and rushed the Kursk dangerous and haphazard refitting, that pushed early deployment, not their navy. Now on the film itself I just can''t recommend it. It comes off like a "Lifetime Network" cheesy melodrama. The bleeding edge technical aspects, the high stakes already make the Kursk's sinking and the rescue attempts under extremely difficult storm conditions compelling drama and action. Why it was turned into a soap opera is beyond me.

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Kursk Overall this was a well made movie that could not rise above its subject matter. The lack of any redemptive conclusions to the drama just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. If people don't learn from their mistakes we cannot see any progress with the human condition. Also, I checked, all the sailors died within 8 hours of the accident and experts say nothing could have been done to save them, so this represents revisionist history and for what purpose merely to have a pop a Russia. Hardly sufficient to justify making this movie at all.

Kursk is a really good adaptation of a tragic true story that's well made, emotional and well paced. Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux and Colin Firth are all great. The music by Alexandre Desplat is really good as well as Thomas Vinterberg's direction. However, some of the stylistic choices don't work and it follows a familiar formula.

Aside from the young boy at the start of the movie, who is part of the main cast and is actually a Russian National, all the other 'Russians' were Dutch, French, German, and Belgian. Trying to watch a movie where supposedly Russian submariners are speaking in different European accents ends up giving the movie zero credibility. It's like watching Schindler's list but the actors who are meant to be German have Jamaican, Australian, Brazilian and South African accents!! After 7 minutes, I looked up reviews on IMDb and saw that they were less than favourable and the movie is pretty much fiction & supposition based. I guess the paid Colin Firth a big load of money to be in this flick... Sadly this movie only succeeded in torpedoing itself and sinking to watery grave and it's a poor man's version of Red October and K19, both of which I've watched many times and I'll be doing again tonight 'sigh'

I remember hearing about this incident as an 8 year old, but at that time the intricate details weren't fully disclosed to the American public. Great film about how political differences & stubborn governments can interfere with what could've been a swifter intervention & might've possibly ended the Cold War. This thrilling story highlights the BS of bureaucracy! Why can't we all just get along?