Orion's Belt (film)

Orion's Belt
Norwegian DVD cover
Directed by	Ola Solum (Norwegian version) Tristan DeVere Cole (English version)
Produced by	Dag Alveberg Petter Borgli
Written by	Richard Harris Jon Michelet (novel)
Starring	Helge Jordal Sverre Anker Ousdal Hans Ola Sørlie Kjersti Holmen
Music by	Geir Bøhren Bent Åserud
Cinematography	Harald Paalgard
Distributed by	Kommunenes Filmcentral New World Pictures
Release date	9 February 1985
Running time	103 minutes
Country	Norway
Language	Norwegian English
Budget	15 million kr

Orion's Belt (Norwegian: Orions belte) is a 1985 Norwegian dual-language, adventure and thriller film, directed by Ola Solum and Tristan DeVere Cole. It is based on Jon Michelet's 1977 novel by the same name. The film follows three Svalbard-based shabby seamen, played by Helge Jordal, Sverre Anker Ousdal and Hans Ola Sørlie, who discover a Soviet bearing station. They are subsequently targets of Soviet liquidation and American interrogation in an attempt to quiet them and retain the political status quo. The Cold War topics were a critique of the Norwegian policy of allowing a Soviet presence on Svalbard.

The film was produced by Dag Alveberg and Petter Borgli, and the script was written by Briton Richard Harris. Two versions of the film were recorded, a Norwegian cinematic film and an English-language television film. First Solum shot the Norwegian-language scenes, and then Cole shot the same scene with the actors speaking English. The entire crew and cast lived on board a ship which traveled through Svalbard and Finnmark during production. The theme music, Svalbardtema, was composed by Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud and has become an anthem for Svalbard.

The story centers around three seamen who conduct shady business on board their vessel, Sandy Hook. The film starts with two of them, Tom Jansen (Helge Jordal) and Sverre (Hans Ola Sørlie), taking tourists on a polar bear safari. During this trip and at a later scene at a pub in Longyearbyen, where Tom's girlfriend, Eva Jelseth (Kjersti Holmen) is introduced, the viewers are briefed on the politics of Svalbard and the large Soviet presence. The third seaman, Lars (Sverre Anker Ousdal), presents plans to freight a bulldozer to the mainland from Sarstangen. They have been instructed to dump the bulldozer underway as part of an insurance fraud scheme, but have instead made arrangements to sell the vehicle on Greenland. While at port, Tom is called to visit Governor Bache (Jon Eikemo), who warns that he will be keeping an eye on them.