"The new Conquest of Arctic" Valeriy Scvorczov film. Awarded to "Golden Crab"
It's a first "child" of Russian Underwater Expeditions, beloved, achieved through suffering, with a tragic fate. This film is about a crack between life and death, so called "crack" in heads of people who cannot live without risk

The film is based on the real events - stories of various arctic expeditions in different periods of time. First of those expeditions proved to be fatal to its leader - worker of life-saving service Andrey Rozhkov (Department of Extraordinary situations - МЧС). The film consists of two parts.

The first part of the film is about Rozhkov and his associates rallying round their leader. It also tells about versions of a tragic death of Andrey under indifferent lumps of the Arctic Ocean at depth of 50 meters.

The second one is devoted to Andrey's friends - divers, who fearlessly continued the conquest of abyss. They devoted their feats to Andrey.

This film is run through with danger, fatal concatenation of circumstances, mysterious signs. It's an extreme and unusual film. It increases pulse beating and it cools blood.

As for viewers, it's useless to listen to good sense, because the author Valeriy Skvorczov tells about some kind of "possession" by the Idea.

On a question "Why" Leonid Kiryakov, the underwater operator, answered in the beginning of the film: "It's necessary to understand who you are and what kind of attitude you are worthy of".

Having withstood the test with the North, "walking" somewhere between various worlds and healing "the crack" in the head by 40 degrees of frost, it's impossible to feel yourself as a city milksop with all signs of chronic depression.

"The Conquest of Arctic" is a super extreme film, such exiting as northern lights and polar cold of eternal ice. It's full of adrenalin. The characters of the film - Andrey Rozhkov, Michael Safonov, Alexandr Levandovskiy turn their look directly to the innermost of their souls.

At first sight there are too many casual frames, fragments of phrases, repeats. This film is a result of four-year shooting under super-extreme conditions. However, the producer uses even the treacherous camera shivering for particular reason, wholly and essentially. In spite of the apparent disregard of video effects, this film has the specific natural charm. It has few features of so called "home video"- documentary-vivid-virtual - like Leonid Parfenov's production. But that's another story.

It's unjust to assert that the producer has totally refused to use artistic methods. For example, the fried eggs on the cooker are quite artistic. By the way, it's the most vivid and sunny spot among blinding "sheets" of the North, unspeakably pleasing your eyes. It's possible to say, this omelet is out of place, for example, like a palm - it's too southern. There is some kind of ghostly features. Everything is "pretended" to be real.

The most impressive thing in the film is under the ice reality: unique curves of snow-white sculptures, snow figured crumb, shafts of ghostly light, greenish gleam of the ice wall. These unique frames were made by different operators ( Leonid Kiryakov, Vadim Shestachenko) in various periods of time. The famous underwater operator Oleg Bozhok recorded the first tragic expedition. He was the only one, who accompanied Andrey Rozhkov in that fatal diving. Having gone down, he began to be out of breath. He managed to make some frames and saved himself.

Evidently, Scvorczov tried to avoid a distortion of the historic truth. That's why his narration is so pedantical and accurate. All of the divers were in great danger during that expedition. They risked their lives almost every minute, being in ice-abyss. The Scvorczov's description is so detailed that it seems he is each of those divers. A penetration into the main idea of the film is so skilful and the knowledge of details is so intimate, that sometimes it seems to you this ingredient's "richness" is too high - like boiling water runs over the pot, "the pot" of narration.

There are some key figures, running through the whole film. The first figure is an ice-hole. You see it from the abyss. This foreshortening underlines the significance of such image. It looks like the "sudden" sun at night. Morgulis, a producer, uses this touch to point at The Way, which is so important to each of us. Don't let you "dive" into day-dreaming - try to come to the surface!

The second figure is the pilot's cabin. You can see it under different circomstances of scenario many times during the film. It impends over viewers, creating the effect of nervous expectation. What expectation? Who is expected of? Is any answer or not? Or the main aim is to wait for something...

There is also the man in this film whose expectation has already come to the end, tragically and suddenly - Andrey Rozhkov. "He spent all his life seeking after it...",- his wife says softly. She smiles a sad pure smile, which is the nature of people who is full of love. It sounds fatal, but there is no any mysticism, just very logical hypotheses, which are introduced to your attention by Valeriy Scvorczov. It's a wise film, made by intelligent people, people who have always place for feats in their lifes. God grant them robust health

By Olga Kazak