Review of The Deep

On the 8th of November 2013 my Media Studies class and I went on a trip to the 'Everyman Cinema' in Baker Street a screening of an Icelandic film called 'The Deep'. The Deep is a 2012 drama film that tells the story of Gulli an Icelandic fisherman and how he miraculously survived six hours in freezing cold water off the souh coast of Iceland. The film is in Icelantic but has English subtitles.

The film is based in a small town in Iceland where fishing is the main source of income. Six men board a boat in order to go out for what would seem to be a seemingly standard fishing trip. Howeevr their boat capsizes and within five minutes, five of the six memebers of the crew have died. Gulli is left alone in the sea where the temperature is five degrees farenheit three miles away from land. Left alone with his thoughts Gulli ponders to what to he would do if he had one more day on earth. To his own astonishment Gulli is able to swim back to shore and climb over a rocky mountain back into his hometown where he collapses at the house of a stranger. The ambulance are called and Gulli recounts his amazing story to the news. Scientific procedures are confucted on Gulli in order to try and configure how he possibly survived in the situation although there is no conclusive explanation. The film ends the real interview with Gulli in hospital.

The shots throughout the film were a massive success. The film consisted of a lot of high tech photography, including underwater filming, that helped add to the spectable visuality of the film and help us engage in how horrible the prospect of Gulli's situation was. The acting throughout the film was also generally performed to a high level. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who played the part of Gulli, gave a riveting performance throughout and was very good displaying the obvious physical, as well as emotional, stress that the Gulli was going through. If I had any criticism of the moie it would be that I thought the director made it to short. The film was only an hour and a half long. I believe had it had been longer the movie built up more connections between the characters and the audience and more side stories could have been enhanced.

As someone who is not generally a fan of foreign movies I would definitely recommend 'The Deep' as I believe it to be a triumph in portraying such a riveting story. Their is not a dull moment throughout and it is beautifully shot.