July 25, 2002 -- The cold war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was one of the most dangerous periods in human history because the threat of global nuclear war was never far away. "K-19: The Widowmaker" is a story about one of those close calls. It is not as good a movie as last year's "Thirteen Days" about the closest call of all, but it is a good, gripping suspense yarn. It does run out of fuel by the end of the film, but it works well as a suspense thriller. This is the best submarine movie to come out since "The Hunt for Red October." It is superior to "U-571."

K-19 is based on a true story about the first Soviet nuclear sub capable of firing nuclear-tipped missiles. K-19 was rushed into production to meet the threat of a U.S. submarine already deployed with the same capabilities. Because of the difficulty of detecting a submarine and stopping it, missile firing subs are still a very real threat. Although the Soviets were later able to briefly surpass the U.S. in terms of submarine technology, K-19 was not one of their better efforts. It was a cursed ship. The movie details many problems with the boat, including substandard parts and a lack of proper equipment and supplies aboard when it launched and a very inadequate set of trial runs. It was rushed into patrol duty, with tragic results.

Harrison Ford stars as K-19 captain Alexi Vostrikov, sent to replace captain Mikhail Polenin (played by Liam Neeson of "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace") because Polenin was reluctant to put his crew in peril without better safety precautions. Vostrikov pushes the crew hard, too hard in Polenin's opinion, and the two clash. It is a bad situation, having two captains aboard. Polenin is first officer, but to the men on the boat, he is still the captain and they resent the sterner Captain Vostrikov. Before long, there are whispers of mutiny. All this comes to a head when the reactor springs a coolant leak, flooding the sub with radiation and causing the reactor to overheat. Vostrikov does not want to abandon the sub, he wants to repair it. Repairs come at a frightful cost, however. Whoever enters the sealed reactor room to effect repairs is subjected to extreme levels of radiation. Radiation protection suits are one of the things K-19 did not have aboard during this voyage.

If the sub is not repaired, the reactor could go critical, resulting in an explosion bigger than the nuclear blast at Hiroshima. This explosion, which would destroy a U.S. ship shadowing the sub, could lead to nuclear war between the U.S. and Soviets. The film depicts the horrific effects of radiation poisoning on the men who try to repair the reactor. It also depicts the fear of everyone aboard. The film works well as a drama of the struggle between the two captains, the paranoia of the cold war, and as a heroic struggle to save the boat, and maybe the rest of the world along with it.

The plot of the film is strong enough that it doesn't need great performances to keep it afloat. Ford and Neeson give stern, one-note performances as the captains (which is what is the roles demand), while Christian Camargo of "Plunkett & Macleane" is good as nuclear technician Pavel Loktev and Peter Sarsgaard of "Boys Don't Cry" glows as the officer in charge of the reactor, Vadim Radtchenko. The rest of the cast gives solid support. The production design by Karl Juliusson and Michael Novotny and art direction by Arvinder Grewal and William Ladd Skinner is great, as is the set decoration by Ian Greig, Carol Lavallee and Dan Wladyka. There are a number of authentic-looking sub interiors and some authentic sub exteriors too (An old Soviet sub on display in Florida was moved to the north Atlantic and refitted so it would be an authentic-looking stand-in for K-19. A Canadian sub was disguised as another Soviet sub used in the film). In addition to the great effort to make authentic looking subs and interiors, the costume department, headed by designer Marit Allen, had a large number and variety of military uniforms made in Russia that were authentic down to the fabrics and buttons. The makeup department, including Christina Smith, Gordon J. Smith and Joyce Wold did a wonderful job not only simulating the effects of radiation exposure, but also in aging the actors for an epilog scene.

This film, effectively directed by Kathryn Bigelow ("Strange Days"), makes the point that the men who died as a result of the K-19 incident, though never recognized as such by their own government, were heroes. They were as heroic as those who sealed up the reactor building at Chernobyl. Their story needed to be told. For many years, this story was top secret. There are many other stories like this, shrouded in military secrecy, that need to be told. For instance, how many movies have been made about the Soviet space program? Some day these many hidden stories will be revealed. Here's to the story of K-19, revealed at last. It tells, in very small measure, some of the untold costs of the cold war. It says a lot that part of this movie was filmed in Russia. Who would have forseen this development during the cold war? The film rates a B.

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