The Heavy Water War: Stopping Hitler's Atomic Bomb
Original title: Kampen om tungtvannet
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
8.2K
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The story behind Germany's attempt to develop an atomic bomb during World War II and the sabotage of the heavy water program in Rjukan, Norway from the points of view of the Germans, the All... Read allThe story behind Germany's attempt to develop an atomic bomb during World War II and the sabotage of the heavy water program in Rjukan, Norway from the points of view of the Germans, the Allies, the saboteurs, and the company.The story behind Germany's attempt to develop an atomic bomb during World War II and the sabotage of the heavy water program in Rjukan, Norway from the points of view of the Germans, the Allies, the saboteurs, and the company.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 5 nominations total
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EXCELLENT series, best war miniseries since Band of Brothers, and that was the best of all-time according to IMDb raters, myself, and many others (it was the first DVD set I ordered in advance).. I also learned more about physics from this, which caused me to look up heavy water (D2O) online and Germany's wartime nuclear research.
THIS series had me riveted, I watched the last 5 episodes in one sitting (til dawn) b/c I couldn't STOP watching.. some great footage of the skiing, just what you'd expect from Scandanavians.. The commando raid was also brilliantly filmed.
KUDOS to writers, directors, cast (Anna Friel, stunning as always!), and the incredible landscapes - I admire anyone who can conquer all that winter ice & snow and not only survive, but move around and fight wars in all that hostile environment.
HEROES prove their status in times of need, willing to endure self- sacrifice for the rest of us - glad to see that they also inspire cinematic ART many decades later!
THIS series had me riveted, I watched the last 5 episodes in one sitting (til dawn) b/c I couldn't STOP watching.. some great footage of the skiing, just what you'd expect from Scandanavians.. The commando raid was also brilliantly filmed.
KUDOS to writers, directors, cast (Anna Friel, stunning as always!), and the incredible landscapes - I admire anyone who can conquer all that winter ice & snow and not only survive, but move around and fight wars in all that hostile environment.
HEROES prove their status in times of need, willing to endure self- sacrifice for the rest of us - glad to see that they also inspire cinematic ART many decades later!
I'm flabbergasted by the few critical reviews of this film as I think it's one of the best series on WWll ever made. Telling the story of Britain & Norway's efforts to destroy the heavy water production by the Nazis (used to create an atomic bomb) it covers the same ground as the 1965 film with Kirk Douglas. This an intense, gripping war drama showing the amazing bravery and tenacity of the Allies to stop Hitler from getting the bomb before them no matter what the cost. Critical reviewers might want to read their history as I found this film to have no "fluff" or "PC" elements at all. Gut wrenching with tons of action not to mention political drama and also blending personal stories into the characters it succeeds on every level in my opinion. I've seen/own every WWll film available and this is one of the best.
For us Scandinavians there is a lot of familiar faces in the cast. They really brought the big guns for this one. Casting is great, acting is superb and we all in all get the same from this series as we got from Max Manus, maybe even more.
It's based upon what actually happened, with some artistic freedoms of course. But largely sticks to the story.
If you can somewhat understand Norwegian or enjoy foreign cinema/tv series (not in english), you should definitely give this a try.
This decade or so, Norway has created several series depicting life and events during WW II in Norway, under German annexation, but still different way than in e.g. Central or Eastern Europe. But still, people had to make hard choices, and very often you were between rock and hard place, trying to see/predict a bigger picture and "sniff" potential outcomes. Kampen om tungtvannet gives a broad overview, through different angles and participants, of a successful, yet controversial operation (thus, in my opinion, the UK title The Saboteurs is not felicitous), with many real episodes and characters, performed by good character actors (more as a team, no one really sticks out unnecessarily). It is also to my liking that characters of different nationals were played by respective representatives, so different languages heard are always correct and without accent.
Well, the run of scenes is not always smooth, some of them are excessive and tensions are sometimes fading, but still - this series is worth watching, at least for Northern Europeans interested in the events during WW II not commonly known.
A variety of languages, with subtitles as needed. Dramatic but in keeping with history. Outstanding sense of the challenging times of WW2 & the decisions made by different groups & individuals, courage & compromise. Risking life & decisions made to protect others & self as the Nazi noose extended itself into Norway.
Did you know
- TriviaThis series managed to set a viewer record for a national TV drama premiere in Norway when on 4 January 2015, 24.3% of the Norwegian population was watching the first two episodes. It was also 62.5% of the total TV viewing at the time that Sunday.
- GoofsWhen Tronstad shows up at Army Headquarters in London, he arrives in a 1970's London-cab. It should have been an earlier model ca. 1930's cab.
- ConnectionsEdited into Krigens beste historie - Kampen om tungtvannet (2015)
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- The Heavy Water War
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 45m
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- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD
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