K-19 Widowmaker
| K-19: The Widowmaker | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Kathryn Bigelow |
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| Screenplay by | Christopher Kyle |
| Story by | Louis Nowra |
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| Music by | Klaus Badelt |
| Cinematography | Jeff Cronenweth |
| Edited by | Walter Murch |
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138 minutes |
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| Language | English Russian |
| Budget | $90 million |
| Box office | $65.7 million |
K-19: The Widowmaker is a 2002 historical thriller film about the first of many disasters that befell the Soviet submarine K-19.
K-19: The Widowmaker was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and stars Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. The screenplay was adapted by Christopher Kyle, with the story written by Louis Nowra, based on real life events depicted in a book by Peter Huchthausen. The film is an international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada.
In 1961, the Soviet Union launches its first ballistic missile nuclear submarine, the K-19, commanded by Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford), aided by executive officer Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson). Polenin, the original captain, and the crew have served together for some time, but Vostrikov's appointment is alleged to have been aided by his wife's political connections, as well as Polenin's tendency to put the crew's morale and safety before the pride of the Soviet Union. During his first inspection, Vostrikov discovers the reactor officer to be drunk and asleep on duty and sacks him, ordering Polenin to request a replacement.
The new reactor officer, Vadim Radtchenko (Peter Sarsgaard), arrives direct from nuclear school, fresh from the naval academy. Before the launch, the medical officer is killed when struck by an oncoming truck, and is replaced by the command's foremost medical officer, an army officer, never having been out to sea and prone to motion sickness. During the official launch of the K-19, the bottle of champagne fails to break when it strikes the bow, considered to be a sign of ill fortune (according to some naval traditions, a young woman is supposed to break a bottle of alcoholic/celebratory beverage against a ship's hull at its christening/maiden launch; if the bottle did not break, it was taken to be an ill omen).
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