K-19: The Widowmaker

K-19 is an exciting but old-fashioned Cold War drama that tells the supposedly true story of the Soviet submarine K-19. Had it not been for fortunate circumstances, the submarine could have caused the outbreak of the Third World War.

In the early 1960s, in the middle of the Cold War, the new nuclear-armed submarine K-19 is the pride of the Soviet navy. Even though the enormous submarine still has many shortcomings, the leadership orders it into action to test the missile launch and thereby flex its muscles at NATO. This leads to a conflict between the top military leadership and the submarine's captain, Polenin, who is not willing simply to put his men's lives at risk. He is therefore relieved of his command and his place taken by the tough, party-loyal Vostrikov. He insists on testing the submarine's capabilities and following his orders, even if it costs him and his crew their lives.

K-19 could have been tightened up a little. As it is, it comes across as somewhat ponderous with its running time of well over two hours. It is not helped by the fact that the Russians are played by Americans or Britons with put-on accents. Moreover, we could well have done without the mawkish epilogue.