True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Cool & Crazy
Mild-mannered Norwegian bachelors living in a tiny fishing village north
of the Arctic Circle find companionship and meaning in life by singing
– always singing – especially in their local male choir. It’s fish, sing, or
leave. Hoping to become world famous they travel to the depressingly
polluted Russian industrial town of Murmansk to give a concert. It’s a
lovely film about how one’s spirit can soar even when constrained by a
dying small town. The title refers ironically to the mild hopes and quiet
lives of these bachelors of ice. Their music, surprisingly spiritual, fills the
screen.
By Knut Erik Jensen
2001, 89 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Singing in the bathtub is the best place
to practice. Worst is singing in the arctic
wind.
The Norwegians confront all kinds of emotions
when they roll into Russia. The choir
teases one life-long communist among
them for supporting a party that causes
the degradation, grime, and misery they
see out the window.
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