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Svalbard: Still strange
Doomsday remains the theme in literary and lowbrow films, books

A van, top right, barely visible through a blizzard, approaches the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in this scene from the documentary "Climate Of Change," focusing on environmental preservation efforts by individuals. The seed vault scenes in the film, which received positive reviews from critics during screenings at the Tribeca FIlm Festival last month, are called "particularly ethereal."

Published May 4, 2010

"Comatose seeds are wrapped in stone," a woman's subdued voice recites above sparse eerie music, pausing between phrases. "It is the Garden of Eden…numbered and tagged and vacuum packed."

"A doomsday allotment, just in case…the work and the sign of a civilization stashing provisions and holding its breath."

Such is the impression of Svalbard made on attendees at the Tribeca Film Festival, where "Climate of Change" screened last month. The 85-minute documentary, focusing on small-scale environmental preservation efforts in sometimes unusual locations worldwide, received generally favorable reviews from critics who agreed the Svalbard portion lived up to its "particularly ethereal" billing.

(Watch a two-minute excerpt of "Climate of Change")

Those working at and with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault tend to cringe at its "doomsday" label in popular media, but it's clearly here to stay as a new collection of movies, books and other entertainment continues focusing on the ominous aspect of the two-year-old facility.

(Read about previous projects featuring Svalbard)

The pace isn't likely to slow in the near future, especially with some predicting the arrival of Judgement Day during Christmas of 2012.

The novel "Solar" by British author Ian McEwan, a climate change satire whose tragicomedy peaks in Spitsbergen, has seen an abundance of page 1 features in the New York Times Sunday Book Review and other major literary publications. Being pitched to movie studios now is "The Vault" by Brian K. Vaughan, a writer of the "Lost" television show and Y: The Last Man comic series, described "as a cross between "Ocean’s 11" and "2012"/"Children of Men."

"When a terrifying plague destroys crops and causes starvation on a global scale, the world’s greatest thief must break into the extremist-controlled Doomsday Vault to steal the one seed that could prevent the extinction of the human race," a synopsis notes.

Apocalyptic portrayals of the isolated Norwegian archipelago are nothing new, and range from scholarly to silly to sci-fi. The highbrow road is taken by "Climate of Change," where U.S. director Brian Hill uses two British artists – actress Tilda Swinton narrating poems by Simon Armitage – to present characters such as a 13-year-old member of a youth environmental group in India and a renaissance man teaching citizens to cook with solar power in Africa.

"Simon had the idea very early on to write something comparing the global seed vault to a kind of giant potting shed," Hill said in an interview published in the movie's press kit. The director's crew on the island was severely limited, consisting of two assistants and his 13-year-old son who was on school holiday.

Minimalist or not, the seed vault portion of the documentary was among the most frequently mentioned by Tribeca festival critics.

"Rather than being used to introduce us to interview subjects or even present statistics, the narration adds beauty to the already incredible landscapes," wrote Eric Eisenberg in a review for Cinema Blend. "One poem in particular, written about an underground seed storage facility in Svalbard, Norway, is haunting as we move from snowy streets to tomb below, known to some as the Doomsday Vault, where 4.5 million duplicates of seeds are stored."

Another sober examination of issues related to the vault is "Seed Warriors," a Swiss documentary also premiering earlier this year. Promotional materials also take a "world in peril" slant and focus on the efforts of individuals, such as a Kenyan scientist trying to deposit unique native seeds at the vault while they still exist.

"Our protagonists come from a range of disciplines but they all face innumerable hurdles – bureaucracy, a lack of money and resources, the absence of political will," a synopsis notes. "These unlikely heroes have all made considerable sacrifices and have proved resilient in the face of adversity."

It's safe to assume a more downmarket approach will be featured in "The Vault."

Brian K. Vaughan, a tv/movie/fiction writer who made a monkey a co-star of the post-Apocalyptic Y: The Last Man comic book series, is turning his doomsday focus on Svalbard for "The Vault," a movie about a thief trying to save mankind by breaking into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Details are sketchy, including who might buy it and when it might be released. But Vaughan's extensive resume of eclectic includes another post-global plague story in Y: The Last Man, summarized by Wikipedia as "about the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal (barring the same man's pet monkey) on Earth."

Still, the article notes "among other important ideas, the story deals extensively and objectively about gender issues and technological and scientific advancement taking the place of the so-called 'natural order of things.'"

Strange Svalbard science isn't limited to the seed vault in the mind of writers and directors. "Solar" plays with shifting climate change moralities inspired by a Spitsbergen snowmobile expedition. Another adult novel, "Dark Matter" by bestselling children's author Michelle Paver, will feature another frozen misadventure when it is published in October.

The plot, set in 1937, focuses on a group of young Englishmen on a Spitsbergen mission of scientific discovery, only to find something sinister lurking in the snow.

"I've always loved ghost stories and for the past decade, I've had 'Dark Matter' at the back of my mind," Paver told The Bookseller in an interview. "'Dark Matter' is my attempt to capture the beauty and menace of the Arctic, in a ghost story that will scare the hell out of you."

Other upcoming projects include:

• "The Deep:" A five-part BBC TV drama starring British actors James Nesbitt and Minnie Driver scheduled to air this year.The plot focuses on an Arctic oceanographic submarine crew stranded with limited oxygen and no power when catastrophe strikes.

• "War Eagles:" A full-length feature film scheduled to begin production this year, based on an unfinished project in the late 1930s by Merian C. Cooper, creator of the original "King Kong." The plot features a fighter pilot who crashes while testing an experimental plane in the Arctic and "discovers a strange land inhabited by a lost tribe of Norsemen who ride giant eagles and, in a surprising turn of events, becomes America's only hope against a devastating sneak attack by the Nazis and their powerful new electromagnetic weapon." A novel of the tale written by Carl Macek was published in 2008.

All contents copyright 2010 by Icepeople or other copyright holders. Icepeople material may be reproduced elsewhere free of charge for noncommercial use. Contact Mark Sabbatini at marksabbatini@yahoo.com for information about anything else of seeming importance.