Set in Norway in the year 2037, the country has become a refuge for its own citizens, protecting them from the chaos devastating the rest of the globe. But a deadly disease threatens their safety and turns their defences into prison walls.
The Fortress was originally released on Viaplay in the US sometime last year. News of it coming to the UK never emerged, and for a while, we were ready to accept it would not get a UK release. To our surprise, the Viaplay series has surfaced to be released on Amazon Prime, the streamer itself, rather than Viaplay. Here is our review of the riveting Pandemic-Inspired series.
The Fortress Trailer
The Fortress – Our Review
You could be forgiven for never wanting to hear another pandemic statistic for the rest of your days. It feels almost too recent to become entertainment fodder. And yet, co-directors Cecilie A. Mosli and Mikkel Brænne Sandemose don’t shy away from Covid-19 references in their series, The Fortress. In fact, it seems that the pandemic we all lived through was the starting point of some sort of “new world order”, one in which Norway has sealed itself off from the rest of the world.
Set in the year 2037, this is a programme that should feel dystopian and yet, feels all too familiar. There are a few main narrative strands that run through the seven-part series, which airs on Viaplay as of July 16. The first is that of Prime Minister Greig Amund Heyerdahl (Tobias Santelmann), who opens our series with a direct-to-camera speech about safety. His political party, Our Way, has been in charge of Norway for over a decade, constructing a border wall on one side and an oceanic minefield on the other.
The outbreak of what appears to be redmouth disease in the salmon supply is a big enough problem – how can he feed a nation – but when that bacteria evolves into something far more sinister and deadly, his political career spirals quicker than a rapidly spreading virus.
The second narrative strand centres around Esther Winter (Selome Emnetu), a biologist who works for a governmental food agency. When the redmouth disease is discovered, it sets Esther down a path that will change her life forever. Caught up in an intricate web of lies and outright murder, she is dismissed as a paranoid threat to the state.
Her story neatly intertwines with that of Charlie Oldman (Russell Tovey), a refugee to Norway. He arrives on a state farm with his baby daughter, Hope, having left his wife, Uma, behind in a camp because she did not pass medical tests that would see her entry into Norway. Uma attempts to make it to Norway via a small shipping boat, instead, but she will soon become a pawn in a biological game of politics.
What the season does brilliantly is build tension. Despite the very familiar feel of lockdowns and government mandates, you will never be bored watching The Fortress. Several episodes end on dramatic cliffhangers that will have you reaching for the next episode within seconds. There are gun fights, biological weaponry and faked suicide attempts.
Ominous music sneaks its way in from episode three and builds from there, like a quickening pulse. It adds layer upon layer of conspiracy and subterfuge that may well leave you wondering if this is how governments really work. There are plenty of dramatic reveals to keep you hooked and – just when you thought you had solved it all – another little curveball is thrown in the mix.
It also preys beautifully on perfectly logical fears. There’s a scene with a dog, a tennis ball, a dead fish and a rat that will stay in your mind long after you watch it because you can practically join the dots as to how this disease will spread. And, of course, it is fear that certain politicians and government bodies play on; it is fear that keeps refugees on the other side of the wall; it is fear that allows misinformation (as well as disease) to spread.
But it’s not a show that forgets that there are people at the heart of its high-level political intrigues. Writers Linn-Jeanethe Kyed and John Kåre Raake do an excellent job of really fleshing out each of the characters so that we get a sense of who they are and their motivations. This is no easy task when you have so many competing narratives.
Rebekka Nystabakk, as Greig Ahmund’s scheming advisor, Ingvild, is a villain of Shakespearian proportions. You cannot help but feel she has played everyone around her over the course of the series, including, no doubt, us as viewers. Selome Emnetu gives a thoroughly convincing rendering of a woman who must make herself be believed. Her fear is palpable and her determination admirable as she picks apart a truly grim pandemic plot. Emnetu doesn’t go in for histrionics, her character is quietly confident in her data and statistics. Facts are her weapon and her courage.
Tobias Santelmann makes for an interesting Prime Minister. You are never quite sure, right up until the last couple of episodes, how much knowledge he has and whether or not he is being truthful. He strides around in tight knits and a perfect side part in the early episodes but, by the end of it all, we see an entirely different side to the man. Russell Tovey does an exemplary job of representing the human cost of lockdowns and refugee camps. He is the only one with no connection to a government body and is, more often than not, made to feel like a number. He is perhaps the character we can identify with most and his journey to Norway really does make you wonder how we would have all coped had our own pandemic become even more grave.
The Fortress is a really well-paced series and, without giving too much away, it does end on something of a cliffhanger which could potentially set up a second season. The wall, which was once seen as a sign of safety, could potentially turn Norway into a cemetery. Would we see a different virus mutation in a few months’ time? Will the extent of Ingvild’s scheming ever be revealed? Will Esther truly be happy away from the world of science? What will happen to Greig Amund’s political career? There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered. And we’d be only too happy to tune in and find out.
All seven episodes of The Fortress are streaming on Amazon Prime UK now.
Written by: Mary Munoz, Content Creator at Nordic Watchlist