K-19: The Widowmaker
by Kathryn Bigelow
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christian Camargo, Harrison Ford, Peter Stebbings, Roman Podhora, Sam SpruellDirector: Kathryn Bigelow
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Producer: Basil Iwanyk
Producer: Brent O'Connor
Producer: Christine Whitaker
Producer: Dieter Nobbe
Producer: Edward S. Feldman
Writer: Christopher Kyle
Writer: Louis Nowra
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 138 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-12-10
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Films International
Movie Reviews of K-19: The Widowmaker
Movie Review: emotionally compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
This exceptional film is inspired by tragic historical events. The screenplay is a composite, based equally on two separate Soviet naval disasters. The first, obviously, is the 1961 "cursed" maiden mission of K-19, Russia's pioneer nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. The second is a narrowly-averted catastrophe of 1986, involving the decrepit "Yankee-class" boomer, K-219. Ironically, the movie was also nearly scuttled -- before it even began production. The rough draft contained every Slavophobic stereotype and Cold War cliche', and was bitterly protested by K-19's surviving officers. They wtote a series of open letters to the producers and actors, inviting them to Russia to hear their real story. When director Katheryn Bigalow met these aging veterans and the widow of their recently-deceased Captain, she resolved to film a tribute to their courage. Much of the film's reference material comes from two superb books written by Capt. Peter Huchthausen USN-ASW (ret.): "K-19: The Widowmaker"; and "Hostile Waters". The former contains the translated memoir of Captain Nikolai Zateyev (real-life CO of the ill-fated sub) with an addendum about the film. The latter, co-authored with Capt. Igor Kurdin and novelist Robin White, tells the amazing story of K-219. I urge viewers to read both books for an even greater appreciation of the movie! You'll see that Harrison Ford is a dead-ringer for Zateyev, both physically and personality-wise. He commands the role of Vostrikov (Zateyev) to perfection. Liam Neeson's character, Capt. 2nd Rank Polenin, appears strongly based on K-219's Captain Igor Britanov, who was the compassionate father-figure popular with his crew. The Captains' contrasting styles of leadership provide the conflict in the film. Hollywood melodramatization is apparently obligatory, even when true events provide drama aplenty. The mutiny's only basis in reality concerned a dispute over whether to head the stricken K-19 for a Norwegian port or toward the last-known operational area of Soviet diesel submarines. A core meltdown, while not producing a "thermonuclear explosion", would have released a massive cloud of atomic contamination. K-19's disaster occurred far from any American interests, but K-219's runaway reactor threatened to dust the entire Eastern Seaboard with lethal plutonium. K-19's valiant third-watch did cobble together a makeshift cooling system in just the manner depicted. A fire did break out. And K-19's men suffered horrifying radiation poisoning within the core so hot as to boil their bodily fluids. But the character of Vadim Rodchenko, the young Reactor Officer who conquers paralyzing fear, clearly honors the memory of another engineer. K-219's Seaman Sergei Preminin manually shut down his overheating reactor, sacrificing his life to save Americans from a Chernobyl-in-a-tin-can mere miles off our coast. It was K-219's Britanov who defied Moscow's orders to halt evacuation, and decided to sink his sub to deprive the circling enemy of its prize. And although K-19's crew was absolved of blame and even decorated for their actions, K-219's Catain and officers were persecuted by the unforgiving Soviet system depicted in the film. Thus, while "K-19: The Widowmaker" is not entirely true to its namesake, it accurately portrays the life-and-death scenario which repeatedly plagued the USSR during the Cold War. In its desperation to play "catch-up" with its vastly superior American counterpart, the Soviet Navy would continue to risk its young submariners in hastily-designed, shoddily-built, or outright obsolete boats. Katheryn Bigalow and National Geographic deserve credit for showing the American audience the human side of these young seamen and officers who were just as gallant, dedicated, and patriotic as our own. We care about them, salute their heroism, and mourn their loss. "K-19" is visually magnificent and emotionally compelling. An absolutely spellbinding drama. You'll want the video, but see the film today before it leaves the Big Screen!
Summary of K-19: The Widowmaker
THE TRUE STORY OF RUSSIA'S FIRST NUCLEAR BALLISTIC SUBMARINE, WHICH SUFFERED A MALFUNCTION IN ITS NUCLEAR REACTOR ON ITSMAIDEN VOYAGE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC IN 1961. THE SUBMARINE'SCREW, LED BY THE UNYIELDING CAPTAIN ZATAYEV, RACES AGAINST TIME TO PREVENT A CHERNOBYL-LIKE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION.Based on an incident that was officially suppressed for 28 years, K-19: The Widowmaker is a fine addition to the "sub-genre" of submarine thrillers. The first major American film about Russian cold war heroes, it re-creates the nightmare endured in 1961 by the crew of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19, when an exposed reactor core nearly resulted in a nuclear catastrophe. Several crewmen died, and K-19's captain (played by Harrison Ford) had to assert his command when near-mutiny favored his executive officer (Liam Neeson). This escalating tension gives the film its potent dramatic thrust, and both Ford and Neeson deliver intense performances while director Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Strange Days) ably controls a sub full of seething testosterone. It's not as viscerally thrilling as the classic Das Boot or U-571, and some K-19 survivors protested the inclusion of inauthentic drinking scenes, but the movie benefits from grand-scale production values, seamless computer graphics, and a compelling real-life twist. --Jeff Shannon
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