Fuga

Although I enjoyed the director's first movie, Cold Prey, I didn't expect to like Escape as much as I did. Set in medieval Norway, it's a bleak, atmospheric and thrilling movie with great acting (from the first-time child actors as well), great cinematography, and an eerie soundtrack that fits perfectly.

Its story about a girl escaping from a camp and being hunted by her captors is simple and not too original (it reminds me a bit of Apocalypto, which I'm sure wasn't the first to do this either), but it's executed so well that didn't bother me at all. If you're into movies like Black Death and Evil Rising (Sauna), you're definitely going to want to check this one out.

Incredible filming, with typical Norwegian woods and landscape. The directors and clippers know what they are doing. Great music score, and a good story. Composer and writer know what they are doing.

But as a Norwegian who understands the language, I wonder what happened to the actors. This movie brings me right back to the movies made in Norway during the 70-ies and 80-ies, when they brought stage actors to the movie screen. No sentence uttered in this movie, from any character, comes out naturally. It's like it was played on a stage, not on the screen.

I really wish I had seen this movie without understanding the dialog, then it would have been great.

So let's call it or rather a few things here for what they are: convinient! And yes that means that they happen so the movie and our character can move along. If you have issues with them, you might not feel that the movie deserve the rating I gave it. Fair enough.

Having said that, it is a thriller, things that are or seem unlikely will happen. Overall it is very well shot though and you are immersed into the story. Or can be - which is quite something if you watch the outtakes after the movie is over (on the disc version I own) - it seems so far removed. And it is a testament to the actors for going to that place ... literally and metaphorically speaking

Well, after watching this movie yesterday (being shown for only 3 days, no surprise) I was not left with any good feelings, whatsoever. Frankly, the only thing making me rate it 5/10 is that it has some good, high quality shots of the Norwegian nature. I didn't find it particularly thrilling, and I could barely keep track of the movie, as it was so unilateral. The movie starts too slow, and ends too fast. I will not spoil either, but everyone in that cinema knew how the movie was going to develop. If you are Norwegian, and you just want to watch it, because it's Norwegian, that's the only valid excuse there is for watching this movie.

Flawlessly crafted and acted. Each of the characters engages your interest, even the evil ones some sympathy as one senses their back stories. The landscapes scenes transcend the clichés of "beautiful nature" and reveal it as sometimes magnificent, sometimes dangerous, and often simply what nature at the end of the day is; a universe we did not make that is neither for nor against us.

The story line has been done many times, but there is a freshness in this film, an immediacy, and a sense of deft actuality that places you there. Nothing is wasted, nothing is overdone, and with each shot the characters reveal not the standard villains of the era, but merely people caught up in the after effects of the Black Plague's having ravaged the stability of Europe.