Johanna has fled Nazi Germany to visit a friend in Finland, and from there she continues on to her friend's family's estate. Once at the estate, Johanna passionately argues with her friend's pro-Nazi brother and at the same time, falls for the second, good-looking brother who shares her own anti-fascist feelings. The two are soon engaged in an active sexual relationship that continues as they travel north to an Arctic port.
Pako pohjoiseen
Germany
Berlin International Film Festival
Canada
Germany
Canada
Germany
Ingemo Engström might be Finnish cinema's biggest lost great, perhaps most of all because she applied to Munich film school and made only one film in Finland. Not to mention that it seems that her films are extremely difficult to find. And people who are more or less used to hating their national cinema because it is either too populist or too "pretentious", are certainly not the ones to find out if there could be more. But if there were, would they be able to see something new with their own eyes? And the eternal dilemma for any Finnish cinephile: is this really a good film or is this just different from other Finnish films? But it's useless to pick…
Såhär, kanske va en ganska bra film men hade verkligen en RIKTIGT skitig dag. Common fact: gå inte och se en långsam film på bio om du mår piss
having watched ingemo engström's first two films, dark spring and kampf um ein kind, this one surely stands out as it is a work of fiction. her previous films are of more essayistic form, mixing fiction with documentary and borrowing from different media. flucht in den norden is not entirely detached from this style, as engström keeps having a dialogue with other media; mirroring kampf um ein kind, johanna and ragnar visit the cinema and watch news coverage of the nazis and the wind by victor sjöström. here it might just not be as skillfully handled as previously, mainly due to the way it contrasts the otherwise strict fictive narrative, in my own opinion. it is still interesting to see…
Gets better with each viewing, especially now that one knows what you are going to get and how slow that pace is going to be during the second half. The first half especially is masterful with its careful framing that plays with glances and gestures and that economical editing where every cut seems to have something to say. I looked through old Finnish reviews and no surprise, they all complained about the acting as if those very clear Brechtian cues didn't mean anything to Finnish critics who love Stanislavski too much. What a beauty and I'm so glad I loved it even more and my assessment from the first watch remained true.
Something about Flight North really irked me and I can’t quite put my finger on what it was. I found it all frustrating. Certain parts where of course means to be frustrating but sometimes you enjoy it because you know that that’s the point and sometimes you don’t and that’s what happened now. What ruined it further was that I felt nothing for their love and since it was only them for what felt like ages, it was sort of excruciating and I eventually lost interest.
Note: During the last half hour I needed to pee and it quickly became worse and worse to the point where I could not concentrate on what was happening and wished for it to be over so that I could finally sprint to the bathroom.
