The Heroes of Telemark

During the week I decided to watch another war movie, this time:

The Heroes of Telemark (1965).

Based on real events, The Heroes of Telemark stars Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris as Rolf and Knut, both members of the Norwegian resistance against the German occupation during WWII. Other cast members include Ulla Jacobsson and Michael Redgrave (father of Vanessa Redgrave).

The main point of the story is the sabotage efforts against the German production of heavy water at the local hydroelectric plant. The Germans needed it for their atomic weapons research program. Obviously the Allies were very worried about this and helped however they could. If you want to read about what actually happened, here is the Wikipedia link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage

The movie isn't exactly accurate even though it does follow most of the major points fairly well. I found it to be a compelling movie rather than a fun or exciting movie. For being two hours long, it does unfortunately plod along quite a bit. There are several scenes between Rolf and his ex-wife Anna that aren't really necessary. Yes, it is important to build up the characters in order to help the audience connect with them, but the overall balance of the movie is a bit off. A common element is the fear and paranoia of the German occupiers. In a sense this is more of a spy movie than a regular war movie, but they don't really lean in to this aspect enough.

That said, there are several really exciting moments throughout the movie, including a really good ski chase. The commando raid on the plant was good, but interestingly enough the end of it is fictional. In the movie, guards shoot at the escaping commandos, but in reality they couldn't find the switch to turn on the lights and the commandos escaped easily in the dark.

The Nazis are interestingly enough fairly believable. General Terboven is a bit bombastic and shouts a lot, but they aren't over the top villains or mustache twirling cartoon villains. It feels real and that's a plus.

Prop wise, there are some issues with clothes and skis that weren't available in the 1940's but unless you are eagle eyed you can't tell. What you can tell is that none of the women have accurate hairstyles. Much like Hogan's Heroes, all the ladies have 60's hairstyles which is a shame. It can't have been that hard to get a hair stylist to create the right styles. The men's hair is fine. Short hair is pretty much short hair whether slicked back or flattened by a woolen cap.

The most important “prop” has to be the landscape. It is filmed in Norway and it shows. If they had chosen to pretend to be in Norway it would have been immediately apparent and that would have ruined the feel of the movie.

Finally, a lot has been written about the Nazi atomic research program with different opinions on how far along they were. The consensus seems to be that they were far away from successfully creating an atomic bomb. This would make the heroic efforts to stop the manufacturing and transporting of the heavy water a lot less important. However, no one knew how far along they really were, and with the technological advances they did possess, the fears of the Nazis creating an atomic bomb were very real indeed. This is why it was so important to stop them from getting the heavy water.

So do I recommend this movie? Hard to say. There isn't really anything wrong with The Heroes of Telemark, but it isn't that great either. Where Eagles Dare is completely fictional and over the top at times, but it is a much better 60's war movie. I'm not sure I can really recommend Telemark, but I won't warn anyone away from it either.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!