True North – Der letzte Fang

2006

True North is a 2006 British drama film directed by Steve Hudson and starring Martin Compston, Peter Mullan, Gary Lewis and Steven Robertson as sailors aboard a Scottish fishing boat smuggling illegal immigrants from China into the United Kingdom.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on 11 September 2006 and was also shown at the Max Ophüls Festival in Germany, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, the Copenhagen International Film Festival in Denmark and the Ourense International Film Festival in Spain.

There is a 2014 Korean film, Haemoo, with the same story which is attributed to a 2007 stage play by the same name. An animated film of the same name concerning North Korean prisoners was released on October 1st, 2020.

The film begins showing a group of farmers from China's Fujian province speaking to a Snakehead (a smuggler of people), telling him the false stories they will use for sympathy in the West.

The Providence, a Scottish fishing trawler from Peterhead, lands at the docks in Ostend, Belgium where all of the crew but the Skipper (Lewis) debark. His son, Seán (Compston), the ship's crewman, Riley (Mullan), and the cook (Robertson) then go to an all-night café before splitting up; Seán phones and goes to meet a contact, Riley visits a local brothel and the cook remains at the café. Seán meets his contact, a local man named Pol (Hark Bohm), in a dockside warehouse in the hope of being paid to smuggle cigarettes tax-free. Pol has no cigarettes, however, and instead offers Seán a large sum of money to smuggle a group of Chinese immigrants into the United Kingdom. Seán reluctantly agrees as he and his father are heavily indebted after failing to catch enough fish to pay the mortgage. Riley returns to find the refugees aboard the ship, but he and Seán agree not to inform the Skipper or the cook.

The Chinese are kept below deck in poor conditions but one, a 12-year-old girl named Su Li (Angel Li), sneaks off and lives in another part of the boat. She begins to steal food from the kitchen but the slow-witted cook eventually notices that some of his food is missing. Seán insists they can't go home without a good catch as an empty boat would look suspicious and the cargo hold may be searched and the Chinese stowaways discovered. The nets come up near empty almost every time, though, and the conditions in the hold are beginning to deteriorate rapidly. When one of the Chinese stowaways dies, Riley goes to the Skipper and confesses all. The Skipper confronts Seán but soon realises that he was simply doing what was in the ship's, and their, best interests. For the first time, the Skipper is forced to acknowledge that he's only making a loss by staying at sea. Broken, he gives the wheel to Seán, who turns for home.

Meanwhile, the cook discovers Su Li and comforts her, but does not inform anyone else of her presence on board the ship. The Skipper believes that if they return to Scotland, they will face certain arrest; he will lose his license, and the bank will foreclose on the boat. He drowns the immigrants without telling anyone. Seán and Riley then see the nets are full and pull them up. The crew is horrified to find the corpses. The cook attacks the Skipper with a chain and kills him, as he would have no choice but to kill Su Li also.

The film then ends with Riley and Su Li sitting at a bus stop in Peterhead, Scotland. Su Li gets on a coach and it drives away. Inside her bag is the large sum of money from the ship.

Quelle: Wikipedia(englisch)
Kinostart:2006
22.05.2008 in Deutschland
weitere Titel:
True North ast
True North – Der letzte Fang
True North (film, 2006)
Genre:Filmdrama
Herstellungsland:Vereinigtes Königreich
Originalsprache:schottisches Englisch
Farbe:Farbe
IMDB: 1009
Regie:Steve Hudson
Kamera:Peter Robertson
Darsteller:Martin Compston
Peter Mullan
Gary Lewis
Steven Robertson
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Rezensionen:

2008
Film+
Editing Award
Feature Film
Nominiert
2007
Celtic Film and Television Festival
Bronze Torc Award
Best Feature Length Drama
Gewinner
2007
Cherbourg-Octeville Festival of Irish & British Fi
Young People's Jury Award
Gewinner
2007
Ourense Independent Film Festival
Carlos Velo Award
Best Director
Gewinner
2007
Ourense Independent Film Festival
Grand Prize
Gewinner
2007
British Independent Film Awards
Douglas Hickox Award
Nominiert
2007
Max Ophüls Festival
Max Ophüls Award
Nominiert
2007
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Grand Prize
Nominiert
2006
Seville European Film Festival
SIGNIS Award - Special Mention
Gewinner
2006
BAFTA Awards, Scotland
BAFTA Scotland Award
Best Film
Nominiert
2006
BAFTA Awards, Scotland
BAFTA Scotland Award
Best Director
Nominiert
2006
BAFTA Awards, Scotland
BAFTA Scotland Award
Best Actor in a Scottish Film
Nominiert
2006
BAFTA Awards, Scotland
BAFTA Scotland Award
Best Screenplay
Nominiert
Datenstand: 21.05.2022 01:10:17Uhr