Johanne Helgeland on THE CROSSING “By the break of day when the world looks dark and bewildering”

THE CROSSING, the epic feature debut by Norwegian director Johanne Helgeland, is set in 1942 during Germany’s occupation of Norway. One day, down in the cellar, after their parents have been arrested, ten-year-old Gerda and her brother Otto discover two Jewish children whom they help to escape. Their destination: Sweden.

A dark forest, cold feet on snowy ground, Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs, more than one heart-breaking farewell… THE CROSSING tells a genuine war story, but it is also a story about the confidence, uncompromising loyalty, and great courage you can find in even the youngest of children. You can watch the trailer here.

A war film might not be the most obvious genre for a young audience. Why is it still appealing?

Johanne Helgeland: I wanted to make a classic thriller story with a serious tone that can be watched by family audiences. World War II is still a part of our recent history, although it may not seem so for children growing up today. Most Norwegian families have untold stories from the five years of occupation, and I think they`re worth being passed on. One of our ambitions was to make a film that would engage the whole family, from kids to grandparents and even great-grandparents. We encourage the young audience to ask questions afterwards about their own family’s wartime experiences. I think WW2 is still relevant and appealing because nations and people were forced to choose a side in a scenario so evil it is almost impossible to comprehend, and with such enormous human costs. This needs to be remembered. 

To fully understand the film, we might need a little background information about Norway’s position in the great war.

Helgeland: Norway was occupied without any warning on April 9^th, 1940 in history´s first coordinated attack by sea, air, and land. The Norwegian government refused to give in and managed, together with King Haakon, to escape to England, from where acts of resistance were continued. In October 1942, the new Nazi government started to arrest and deport Norwegian Jews. Sweden, which borders on Norway, kept a neutral position during the war. To escape there was for many the only opportunity they had.

Being a war movie, I could still feel the presence of a certain fairy-tale-like atmosphere to the story, but I can’t get my head around how exactly you did that.

Helgeland: It was important for me to be truthful and at the same time I wanted to make clear that the story is told from a child’s perspective, someone who sees the world in a particular way. 

Including the multiple “Three Musketeers”-references.

Helgeland: The author Maja Lunde wrote Gerda (Anna Sofie Skarholt) to see the world as an adventure. Impulsive as she is, Gerda imagines herself as a brave musketeer. Her brother Otto (Bo Lindquist-Eriksen) is more of a worrying type and finds himself torn by doubt about the thin line between good and evil.

The claustrophobic indoor opening scenes strongly contrast with the journey into the great outdoors.

Helgeland: We want to show how children are affected by war in different ways, ranging from the secrets that grown-ups keep, to the food rations and other restrictions.  Even though “home” should feel like a safe place, now it is more like a waiting room for bigger things to happen. I wanted to suggest a sense of family around these children, a soft and golden atmosphere at the beginning, but when insecurity and doubt set in and the world becomes a cold, hard place, the colour palette changes. They start their journey into the unknown, leaving the house by the break of day when the world looks dark and bewildering. The forest has many faces, it can be a shelter, but it can also be a cold, harsh place, easy to get lost in. It was important to uphold this diversity in every scene and to reflect how children would perceive each situation.

Many exterior scenes were shot in the snow. How was it to work under such circumstances?

Helgeland: We didn’t film in any studios, nor were there any purpose-built sets. We hoped for snowfall on the first day of shooting, but weather conditions turned out differently. Luckily, we managed to get snow at the moment when the children start their journey into the deep forest. For the actors there was a lot of running involved, in the depth of the forest, over hilly terrain and slippery ground. To stay as close as possible to the actors, DoP John-Erling Holmenes Fredriksen often used a gimbal rig, a camera stabilizing system, which made filming much easier. Then soldiers arrived with tracker dogs. We had the perfect dog whisperer on set, so everything ran smoothly. Except that night falls quickly here in the wintertime. Since I didn’t want to use any artificial lighting, I worked the whole time very intensely towards the end of the day so as to squeeze the most out of the final minutes of daylight.

This film feels like an ode to the mind-set of children, who can find an element of play and fantasy in even the harshest situations.

Helgeland: I found this aspect of the story both touching and powerful because it contrasts with the cold and cruel world we inflict on our children. Not since WWII have there been more children fleeing from hostile regimes, war and poverty as today. Towards these children we have a huge responsibility to open our borders.

Even being so young, these children take a great responsibility towards each other and their families.

Helgeland: The young actors and I talked a lot about this, and we all asked ourselves if we would have acted just as brave and responsible in the same situation. Maybe not, but it is a good thing to believe we would.

You’ve been directing short films, music videos, advertising films… but for a feature film debut, THE CROSSING looks like a quite ambitious project! Were there ever moments that you wished you had picked up a smaller-scaled project? 

Helgeland: I loved working on this project. The budget was very modest, which stimulated our creativity and encouraged us to make the best possible use of available resources. I was surrounded by a very experienced crew and producer, Cornelia Boysen on behalf of Maipo Film, and had our noses all pointing in the same direction. My biggest concern was to treat the seriousness of the theme not too light-heartedly. It had to be handled properly and sincerely; I felt a big responsibility to do it the right way.

Gert Hermans