Pioneer (2013)

Excellent but underrated film

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

'Pioneer' should by rights be an interesting film, inspired by true stories of commercial and governmental espionage, scientific advance, and personal bravery, as the Norwegian government was attempting to build (in the 1970s) its first pipeline to take North Sea oil ashore. But in fact, it's rather disappointing. Firstly, there's not much dramatic tension, in spite of a ostensibly vigorous plot. And secondly, that plot itself seems unlikely: large multinational companies are certainly guilty of many evils, but I find it relatively incredible to imagine they would murder Norweigian citizens to cover up ethics breaches - more normal behaviour would be to pay the fine and carry on as before. Perhaps it's because the motivation seems so preposterous that the story fails to ignite. The unvarnished truth (which we are told led to a lawsuit by disgruntled divers) would have been more interesting.

Inspired by true events, and set in the 1970's, this Norwegian drama seems to lack punch in the way it is presented and stretches credibility at times. However, it did hold my interest enough to want to know how it would all turn out.The plot revolves around a huge oil and gas discovery in the North Sea, off the Norwegian coast, which could bring enormous wealth to Norway if a way can be found to lay a pipeline along the sea floor, which would transport the oil and gas to land. It's unknown, however, whether divers working at those severe depths can survive. Thus, working jointly with America, teams of divers from both countries will undergo testing as to whether this engineering feat will be possible.One of the Norwegian divers is Petter, portrayed by Aksel Hennie, who, on one dive, will black out momentarily thus failing to shut off a valve and lead to the death of his brother, working alongside him. When Petter finally emerges from the required decompression, he is driven to do anything he can to find out what really happened on the dive.Petter will begin to realize that there are nefarious forces at work here and the conspiracy to cover-up the event reach far beyond what he could imagine. The projected profits are so great from this venture, that the actions of the conspirators will eventually lead to murder and mayhem.In summary, this film, directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, I thought might have been presented in a way where the tension was heightened more formidably, but I still found it fairly absorbing and interesting enough to maintain my interest to the end.

PIONEER takes us back to the Norwegian glory days of the 1980s when the North Sea oil boom was about to begin and a balding man in a white vest was considered a good catch. The hero is a deep sea diver who blacks out whilst taking part in a joint Norwegian-American dive to start extracting oil. His brother dies as a result and the hero is sure it's American corporate skulduggery to blame; although as he was unconscious when it happened, he can't be certain. Obviously inspired by the great 1970s realist conspiracy thrillers, this is an excellent film which lets the paranoia and uncertainty build. The hero is just as unreliable as his antagonists, and has a clear stake in proving a conspiracy as it will absolve him for his brother's death. Although made on a small budget, it's lovingly filmed, especially the diving sequences which are full of both wonder and gritty reality. The plot holds up well - especially the counter-intuitive (for Scandis) final revelation - and there are some great low-key chases. If you're looking for a unique thriller than look no further.

Pioneer is a thriller inspired by true events in the 70'ies, when Norwegians and Americans was experimenting with deep sea diving, so that oil could go directly in pipelines from the deep sea oil wells on to land. This was landmark and record breaking work, and there was some tension between the Norwegians and the Americans back then. Humans were guinea pigs, in the sense that this was never done before. You could call it a moon landing at deep sea.This thriller has a very different style from what you might usually think a thriller should have. It bears resemblances with sci-fi films when landing on the moon. The feeling of the film is also close to films paranoia films like "The conversation" (of which thus doesn't even come close) or more known submarine films. Claustrophibic from time to time. The finishing scene is pure film art, but still maybe too obvious symbolic.I found the film exciting, and I liked especially the way the underwater situations were told. We were taken in on the blurry life of deep sea divers, either they were looking through water, murky waters or glass, and drug effects making distortion on sight. I also liked the setting. Very bleak seventies, down to every little details as to colors like we see them on photos today, and to authentic looking milk cartons. This is very qualified film making in many ways.However, there's some problems. The sound is a bad flashback from the seventies as well, and some of the ideas are not too well thought through. The limping (no more needed to be said) is ridiculous, and far off when it comes to the script. What the Hell happened here!?!Once again I think Aksel Hennie is electric in his role, as were the others. Very good instruction, and quality actors all the way through. It was like looking on a seventies spy thriller. A very international crew, with Wes Bentley, Stephen Land, Jonathan LaPaglia, Stephanie Sigman, Ane Dahl Torp, all making us remember the seventies with both heart and shrugs.Again screenwriter Nicolaj Frobenius proves his worth, as of course do director Erik Skjoldbjærg, which also has done great work with the films "Insomnia" (later remade by Christopher Nolan), "Prozac Nation", "An Enemy of the People" and the bank heist thriller "Nokas". But here there's some problems, and there are plot holes and easy solutions which irritates, especially on second watch. This tells that the film is more entertainment than really great filmmaking for film buffs.What a director! So different films, and such great feels to every single one! Still this falls through compared With Insomnia and Nokas with much easier solutions, and a more shallow film making than we're used to by Skjoldbjærg.