“Narvik” follows the Toftes, a younger Norwegian married couple from Narvik. Ingrid (Kristine Hartgen) works on the city’s largest lodge whereas her husband Gunnar (Carl Martin Eggesbø) is a corporal within the military, and the 2 have a younger son. With World Battle II raging on, Norway has declared its neutrality, however that does not imply a lot to both facet, who’re fairly thinking about Narvik’s usefulness as a port within the North Atlantic that does not freeze throughout winter, and can be utilized to move iron ore from Sweden.

For Germany, this is able to imply assets to construct their arsenal, and for Britain, it might imply slicing the enemy off their provide. Making an attempt to play each side, an early scene reveals the city’s mayor assembly with delegates from Britain and Germany to debate a impartial settlement to provide the iron to every of them with out battle. Unsurprisingly, nonetheless, neutrality is difficult to keep up in wartime, particularly as soon as German army forces invade the city. In a harrowing scene, the Narvik garrison comes throughout German troopers at the hours of darkness, pointing weapons at them. The Nazi basic shouts that they higher give up as a result of they haven’t any probability, and the Norwegian colonel surrenders his forces with out resistance — in actual life, that very same colonel was truly a Nazi sympathizer.

The excuse is that the Germans are right here to “defend” Norway’s neutrality towards aggression from the British. That is April 9, 1940, the beginning of the German occupation of Norway, which was principally a method of securing the iron ore provide. Rapidly, the German forces overrun the city and arrange a base on the Toftes’ lodge and close by buildings, forcing the civilians out of their houses whereas serving smiles and pretenses about paying compensation for the disturbance.