War Has a Woman's Face: "Black Crab" Movie Review
A post-apocalyptic survival thriller starring Noomi Rapace.
In a post-apocalyptic world, a war is going on. Against the backdrop of a harsh winter, six soldiers are given a mission that is the last chance to win. They must pass through a frozen archipelago and deliver a secret cargo to their destination. One of those who will have to put on their skates and fight the enemy on the road to freedom is Caroline Ed (Noomi Rapace), a woman separated from her daughter and never losing hope of being reunited.
Without any preludes or lyrical digressions, Adam Berg's film places the viewer in war territory: people suffering from hunger, soldiers with guns roaming the streets, and the sound of another bombing in the distance. No one mentions what the cause of the conflict is, who is on the other side of the barricades, or what the leaders' geopolitical motives are. Initially, the vaguely plotted background confuses the viewer, and we can't even say with certainty whether Rapace's character is on the "right" side. However, the faster and farther the chosen soldiers glide toward their goal, the more clearly the director's deeply buried idea that war can be inherently meaningless becomes apparent.
The fighters do not stop dreaming of a peaceful future: some are waiting for a bride, some are thinking of opening an antique store, and Ed, for example, longs to embrace his daughter at least once more in this life. Secret desires are shattered by the captains' orders, and when one of the characters utters: "We can only avoid participating in this war by refusing to obey," there is a vague hope for peace. But, alas, the climax and the semblance of insight (for both the characters and the audience) come in the final minutes, when the pace of the picture can no longer accelerate properly and save the sinking ship called "the story.
The driving force behind the story (literally and metaphorically) is, of course, Ed: a woman fighter who is initially not taken seriously, a woman mother in search of her child and a woman heroine capable of saving humanity from imminent doom. Noomi Rapace is more organically woven into the story here than ever before: as if straight from her recent film "The Lamb," the actress continues her odyssey of a mother's unconditional love.
In accordance with military reality, any boundaries in the picture are blurred: it is as difficult to establish where the truth and where the lie lie lie, as it is deep at night to understand whose territory you are in. The desperate hope of finding your own child is the only unbreakable truth.
It would seem that the Swedish action film had every chance to score. The filmmakers had impeccable camerawork, a talented actress, and a non-trivial concept for a military theme up their sleeve. But for some reason, the story doesn't add up, and the viewer is haunted by the feeling that he started watching the movie in the middle and is trying by all means to get involved in the plot. As a result, Berg's pacifist manifesto crashes on the ice, and only Caroline's wail remains in the memory as a reminder that "Black Crab" had a chance.
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