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Discussion

Under a Stone Sky (1974) was the second Norwegian-Soviet co-production, and was created to commemorate the 30th anniversary of WWII’s end. Set during the liberation of Kirkenes by the Red Army, the film portrays a Norwegian fishing family caught between resistance, collaboration, and survival. The story follows Eldar, a partisan aiding the Soviets, his reluctant brother Hjalmar, and their sister, married to a Nazi-collaborating mayor. It also depicts the everyday life of around 2,000 locals who hid in mines to avoid Nazi evacuation, and who were liberated by the Soviet soldiers.

The film was both a cultural and political project, aiming to portray Soviet forces positively and showcase East-West cooperation during the Cold War, particularly after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Originally conceived as a symmetrical collaboration between a Norwegian and a Soviet screenwriter and a Norwegian and a Soviet film director, the production was filmed mostly in the USSR, and reflected an imbalance in resources and control.

The film received mixed reactions: appreciated in northern Norway for its authenticity but criticized elsewhere for its propagandistic elements. Its tone and portrayal of Soviet heroism were seen as outdated in Norway, where war films had shifted towards more personal, morally complex narratives. In the Soviet Union, it attracted limited attention. Though politically motivated, Under a Stone Sky succeeded in shedding light on a neglected part of Norwegian WWII history, but did not lead to a sustained cinematic collaboration between the two nations.