Commander Arne Treholt and his ninja force arrived on US shores today with the coming of Thomas Cappelen Malling's Norwegian Ninja to US DVD and VOD from Dark Sky Films. And thanks to the good folks at Dark Sky you can now get a big taste of what makes this one so special as they've given us the first eleven minutes of the film to share here at ScreenAnarchy.
There's an awful lot of stuff coming at you in the clip below so here are a few things to keep in mind when watching. First, Treholt is absolutely a 100% real person. Second, those photographs of him at the beginning of the clip? Also real, and very key evidence used in his trial and conviction. Third, when things look like real newsreel footage, that's because it is. Malling incorporates a huge number of 100% real elements from the time and scandal into the film. And, fourth, underwater chase sequences are awesome.
Winner of Best Director and Best Actor at Fantastic Fest 2010, Norwegian Ninja is one of the strangest - and most fun - films to come our way in quite a while. Writer-director Malling takes the known facts of the actual Arne Treholt espionage case and reorganizes them into an alternate history of the time, one in which Treholt was very definitely not a spy by the leader of a secret ninja force.In 1984, high-ranking Norwegian diplomat Arne Treholt was tried and convicted of acting as a spy on behalf of the Soviet Union. But what if the courts got it wrong? What if the case against him was a sham? What if - dare we consider - Treholt was not a spy at all but a patriot of the highest order and the leader of a secret ninja force created by King Olav? A ninja force locked in a secret battle against all who would challenge Norwegian sovereignty?A fictionalized account of the most notorious political scandal in Norwegian history, NORWEGIAN NINJA is a deliciously tongue-in-cheek spoof of the Cold War spy movie, with added ninja action. Blending historical events and actual newsreel footage of the Treholt affair with his own less-than-historical elements, debuting writer-director Thomas Cappelen Malling (a contributor to the upcoming horror anthology The ABCs of Death) creates a film that wryly questions just how truthful the truth really is. And then sends a ninja to punch the truth in the face.
There's an awful lot of stuff coming at you in the clip below so here are a few things to keep in mind when watching. First, Treholt is absolutely a 100% real person. Second, those photographs of him at the beginning of the clip? Also real, and very key evidence used in his trial and conviction. Third, when things look like real newsreel footage, that's because it is. Malling incorporates a huge number of 100% real elements from the time and scandal into the film. And, fourth, underwater chase sequences are awesome.