Barents Sea, August 12th, 2000. During a Russian naval exercise, and after suffering a serious accident, the K-141 Kursk submarine sinks with 118 crew members on board. While the few sailors who are still alive barely manage to survive, their families push for accurate information and a British officer struggles to obtain from the Russian government a permit to attempt a rescue before it is late. But general incompetence are against all their efforts.
Acting
Schoenaerts and Seydoux devastate without dramatics.
Sound
Every creak and groan makes your chest tighten.
Direction
Vinterberg finds humanity inside a metal coffin.
Director
Thomas Vinterberg
Matthias Schoenaerts
Mikhail Averin
Léa Seydoux
Tanya Averina
Peter Simonischek
Admiral Vyacheslav Grudzinsky
Max von Sydow
Admiral Vladimir Petrenko
August Diehl
Anton Markov
Colin Firth
Commodore David Russell
Bjarne Henriksen
Russian Rescue Ship Captain
Magnus Millang
Oleg Lebedev
Artemiy Spiridonov
Misha Averin
Joel Basman
Leo
Pit Bukowski
Maxim
Matthias Schweighöfer
Pavel Sonin
Tom Hudson
Roman
Chris Pascal
Niko
Kristof Coenen
Sasha
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Kursk sat undisturbed on the seabed for over a year before Russia allowed foreign help to recover bodies.
Putin was newly president during this disaster; his handling of it—delaying return from vacation, refusing foreign aid—established his media-control playbook.
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