Orion's Belt (1985)

Interesting facts

• Based on: Orion's Belt
• Awards: 2 · Nominations: 0. Including: Amanda Award for Best Film; Silver nugget for the best Norwegian film

Orion's Belt is a 1985 Norwegian dual-language, political action thriller film, directed by Ola Solum and Tristan de Vere Cole. It is based on Jon Michelet's 1977 novel by the same name. The film follows three Svalbard-based shabby seamen, played by Helge Jordal, Sverre Anker Ousdal and Hans Ola Sørlie, who discover a Soviet bearing station. They are subsequently targets of Soviet liquidation and American interrogation in an attempt to quiet them and retain the political status quo. The Cold War topics were a critique of the Norwegian policy of allowing a Soviet presence on Svalbard.

Production

Jon Michelet's novel Orion's Belt was published by Oktober Forlag in 1977. The book's popularity in part arose from public interest in why 3,000 Russians were living on the Norwegian archipelago. The title refers to the idea that Svalbard was as central in a potential Cold War war theater as Orion's Belt, a central asterism in the constellation Orion.

The initiative to dramatize the novel was taken by two prop masters, Dag Alveberg and Petter Borgli. They both invested half a million Norwegian krone (NOK) in the project, financed by mortgaging their homes. Neither had any experience as producers. Alveberg stated that his main motivation was him being tired of all Norwegian films being social realism. He stated that "the story could have taken place, and maybe it has taken place.

Harris had a single meeting with Michelet in Oslo. At first Harris did not believe that there was a significant Norwegian left-wing grouping, nor did he realize that the Russian presence and the conflict in Svalbard was real. Michelet initially wanted Harris to include details such as Jansen's father being a war sailor and that he came from a working-class family, but Harris, with Michelet's understanding, dropped much of the personal backdrop to…

Solum was selected as director based on the producers' experience with him from Carl Gustav, gjengen og parkeringsbandittene. The producers took more artistic decisions than was common at the time; for instance, they felt that Solum's choice of composer was wrong. During this discussion, the team was contacted by Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud, who had read about the plans the newspaper, and sent a music sample to the team.

The production was organized as a polar expedition. The ferry MS Sognefjord was bought, rebuilt with living quarters and a cutting-room and renamed Orion. After production, the vessel was sold. The reason for using Orion was that there was only one hotel on the archipelago and no place for a film crew.

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