A German expedition is late in August 1939 going to the Norwegian arctic islands of Svaldbard (back then called Spitsbergen), trying to find proof of the theory that all land on Earth was connected before the land broke up in the continents we know today.
Just days after arriving, the tense European pre-war situation gets more tense, when Germany then invades Poland, and the Second World War starts. The expedition is German, and so is a couple of others, but the captain of the ship is Norwegian, and they also bring Russian crew, and a Swede and two Brits, among them a Jew. . What a setting for a dilemma! This fine company of strangers is persuaded to discuss the situation, while still continuing the job they are sent to do. Waiting to be contacted by their respective governments, since they are all part of a German expedition in wartime. The Geman government is commanding them to commit a military operation to help sinking an allied war ship with 1200 British soldiers on board, obviously ending the expedition's main goal.
It's a tense and promising setting for a war thriller, and the film succeeds in establishing the atmosphere. We get the feeling of being abandon in a situation from where you can't escape.
"An enemy to die for" is a Swedish/German film also funded by Norwegian and Nordic investors, and has a very interesting plot for an ensemble of very different scientists working together in the autumn of 1939.
The film has a fine European crew of actors all representing their original countries. Tom Burke, Axel Prahl, Sven Nordin, Alan Cordune, Jeanette Hain and Richard Ullfsæter are all contributing to make an interesting ensemble. Under instruction from the experienced actor and director Peter Dalle, which also has written the script, we see an exciting story unfold. Swedish Richard Ullsæter and Nowegian Sven Nordin are to be considered as the main characters, trying to prevent what is gong to happen.
But somehow the film doesn't bring anything new to the war thriller genre, which really also would be almost impossible. I still think the film was very enjoyable nd tense. The ground idea is still so good, that I can't help feel this could have been more intense and exciting. Me of those stories which would have been intense as a novel, but doesn't hit bulls eye as a film.
