20) K-19: The Widowmaker
The first movie on my list may be a bit of a shocker to some. It certainly didn’t do very well at the box-office and wasn’t exactly universally praised by the critics. I think part of the reason I liked this movie so much is because it completely defied all my expectations for it. Submarine movies are almost always exactly the same: you have the renegade captain that no one trusts, the rival submarines constantly hunting the heroes, and of course that pivotal scene where they take the sub way deeper than it is supposed to go and everyone sits silently listening to the walls of the sub start to creek as if the movie is really about to end with the sub caving in and everyone dying. Well, this movie does have all those things but so much more. There is the competitive and unstable relationship between the Liam Neeson’s captain and Harrison Ford’s Soviet general. There is the ongoing subplot involving the desperate and dying Soviet Union putting all their hopes on the fate of K-19’s mission. Then there is the absolutely amazing fact that this all actually happened: the fact that a Soviet sub really was going to destroy New York and Washington and had a nuclear meltdown in the middle of the ocean. Above all, this movie excels because it is a story of tragic courage. It is a story that gives faces and feelings and pride and values to the people we have demonized for so long. If you know me, you know it is not easy for me to be uplifted and inspired by a movie (think of your favorite, feel-good sports movie…it does nothing for me) but K-19: The Widowmaker moved me intensely. It is one of the most interesting stories ever told about the Cold War and one of the most inspiring movies of the year.
Original Review