The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I've just watched this film at home. On my own in my home cinema. Lights out, 50" screen, DTS 5.1 at 65 Db and in the moment. I knew about the story and I wanted to know how director Oerlemans would tell this story. But I was afraid I was going to be disappointed.Well, I was not. Totally not. I was there the whole movie...Knowing they had 'only' €7.000.000 to spend, this movie looks very good. I would easily compare the look and the quality of this movie to most Hollywood films, for which they spend more than $100.000.000.The special effects look good. The ship looks very real. You can feel the cold they are in. The sound effects and the sound design are very good. The score is beautiful. The acting was good. The picture is very sharp. And I would believe that every shot was filmed there on the spot. Sure there were some miner mistakes. Sure the little fox/wolf didn't look real enough. But that's not reason to make it seem this movie is worthless.I think this is a very good dutch movie that deserves more than 6 stars. Director Reinout Oerlemans: Thank you and good job.

The Age of Exploration (or age of Discovery). Those 200 years (more or less) from 1450 to 1650, when a few brave men coming from Western Europe, traveling in fragile wooden ships and armed with primitive fire weapons, basically conquered the world. It's strange that very few movies have been made out of that era. Perhaps this is so because this era is now a bit politically incorrect (since it many times involved Europeans invading and conquering Native people). But movies dealing with early polar exploration should not have such a problem, since there were few if any native people there. So here comes this fine film from the Netherlands that tells the true story of Willem Barents, the Dutch navigator that seeking a Northern route to China (Spain, being in war with the Netherlands at the time make it difficult for Dutch ships to go to the east through the Cape of Good Hope) reached in 1596 (more than three centuries before the North Pole was reached) the island of Nova Zembla in the High Arctic Sea, an island that is now a part of Russia. However, the ice soon broke the ship and the crew has to spend in the island a harrowing winter. Shot in 3D mostly in Iceland, this film is handsomely made, with a good, classic storytelling. The story is mostly told through the eyes of Gerrit de Veer, the young, inexperienced chronicler in the expedition. Famous Dutch model Doutzen Kroes has a small role, appearing mostly in flashbacks, as Gerrit's fiancé back in Holland (she was obviously hired because she was believed to be a box office draw, not because her character was really needed in the story).

Luckily Oerlemans dared to finally choose a serious subject for a film after his two ridiculous and degrading movies about a small village near the Meuse riverside (Maaskantje). I was very surprised to hear that Nova Zembla would be in 3D, because most 'normal' movies (not animation-films I mean) are not totally in 3D and the effect doesn't blow me away at all. The 3D effects of Nova Zembla are not impressive at all, even for my low expectations. Although the moment of the ice bear-attack is a little exiting, most shots of the bear remind me of my last visit to the Zoo when I was little and will not be remembered as breathtaking. Now let us talk about boobies, because I had an overdoses of boob in the first quarter of the film that in my view didn't add anything to the story whatsoever. Enough about the technical aspects of the film. Let us focus more on the story that Oerlemans is telling us. In primary and middle school in the Netherlands, the subject Nova Zembla as the beginning of the exploration era with the 'Golden Age' as paramount moment is a well known story. But it is a little old and dusty. Oerlemans lures both adults and children to the cinema and teaches us about the explorers of the sixteenth century in the most vivid way possible. We see the men with beards and strange clothing boarding a relatively small vessel full of faith and confidence in the success of the expedition. At the island we see them suffer but still confident that they will get back alive after the winter darkness. Apart from some individuals that do not survive, most of them do in fact what brings an kind of happy ending to the film. Thank you Reinout, for renewing this old story about those brave men.

A terrible movie. The first Dutch 3D movie is a big disaster. It's overrated, the movie is to slow and the storyline to thin. The actors are below average especially Doutzen Kroes. She's not a actress, just a beautiful model. The beginning of the movie is hopeful but after 20 minutes it's over. The 3D effects are not that good. You must use these kind of effects in movie with a spectacular storyline. This movie is to boring and there is not one moment where you can say "wow". I know it's very difficult the tell something about the rich history of Holland but I'm not sure if that is what the director wanted. He just wanted to make the first Dutch 3D movie, that's it. Overall......stay at home and maybe you consider a DVD rent in a couple of months.