Viking Magazine - February 2022 - 47

AMBASSADOR INSIGHTS
What to Watch This Winter
BY ANNIKEN KRUTNES
president
invited the
princess to
Washington,
while her
husband,
Crown
Prince Olav,
and his
father, King
Haakon VII,
established a
governmentin-exile
in
London.
A pivotal
moment for
Norway, and
the way it's
told here
his time of year, when it's dark
and cold outside, a strong
instinct kicks in: the urge to hibernate.
Ordinarily, I try to fight those
instincts by embracing the concept
of friluftsliv, which urges you to put
on your most robust winter coat, go
outside and do something.
But some days you just need to
embrace your inner-couch potato.
When you do, what better way than
to enjoy some entertainment about
or from Norway? It's as close as your
TV. Many recent shows and movies
with IMDB ratings of 7.0 and above
are available for streaming in the
United States. Following are but a
few examples, available on various
platforms.
PBS's Masterpiece Theater
presentation of Atlantic Crossing won
the 2021 International Emmy Award
for Best TV Movie or Miniseries.
While fi tionalized, it tells the story
of the lifelong friendship between
Norway's Crown Princess Märtha and
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.
The friendship began when the Nazis
invaded Norway in 1940 and the
@sonsofnorway
is compelling, with wonderful acting
by Sofia Helin, Kyle MacLachlan and
Tobias Santelmann.
For drama/romance, the movie Hope
(2019) features Andrea Bræin Hovig
(named Best Actress in Norway's 2020
Amanda Awards) and international
star Stellan Skarsgård (Dune, Thor, The
Unbearable Lightness of Being), as a
married couple whose lives are turned
upside-down when she's diagnosed
with a terminal disease.
If you like tales with a supernatural
sheen, Ragnarok might be for you.
The 12-part Netflix series is filmed in
Odda, Norway, the hub where many
tourists stop before hiking the worldfamous
Trolltunga rock. While the
show has elements of the supernatural
and references to Thor's hammer, it is
unrelated to the Marvel movies.
The six-episode sci-fi se ies
Beforeigners starts with a far-out
premise: around the world, fl shes of
light herald the return of people from
three time periods: the Stone Age,
the Viking Age, and the late 19th
century. Before long, these visitors are
being killed-and a conspiracy begins
to emerge.
For a mystery/thriller movie,
consider Charming Men: Part 1 - Julie.
A woman's sister disappears without a
trace. Three months later, the woman,
Julie, potentially receives the fir t clue,
but it comes at a terrible price.
If documentaries are more your
speed, in 2020's The Painter and the
Thief, a painter meets the man who
stole her art-and winds up painting a
portrait of him, beginning an unusual
friendship.
For quirkiness, try Welcome to
Utmark, set " somewhere in the Nordic
wilderness, in a place that lives by its
own rules, " featuring a corrupt sheriff,
a cross-dressing farmer, a possessed
shopkeeper, an alcoholic shepherd,
a nature-loving bootlegger and a
grieving pimp.
For Hollywood-style blockbusters,
Kon-Tiki, The Wave, and The Quake
show what Norwegian productions
can do with a big budget.
These suggestions are but the tip
of the iceberg. I hope they give
you some ideas to help while away
those cold winter nights. Happy couch
potato-ing! ▼
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Anniken Krutnes
is Norway's
ambassador to the
United States. An
expert in security
policy, the law of the sea and Arctic issues,
she has previously served as Deputy
Director General of the Department of
Security Policy, as Norway's Ambassador
IRU $UFWLF DQG $QWDUFWLF $ơDLUV DQG
as ambassador to the Netherlands and
Luxembourg.
facebook.com/
NorwegianEmbassyinWashington/
@NorwayAmbUSA
February 2022
47
PHOTO BY DUSAN MARTINCEK / PBS MASTERPIECE, ILLUSTRATION BY RANDALL NELSON
http://www.facebook.com/NorwegianEmbassyinWashington/ http://www.facebook.com/NorwegianEmbassyinWashington/
Viking Magazine - February 2022

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