Black Crab is an outstanding Swedish film that depicts an anti-utopian future. Sweden finds itself in a state of fictional war, and sees its only chance for liberation in the person of a woman named Caroline Edh. She is given the task of conducting a secret mission with a group of soldiers on skates on the ice of the archipelago. They must transport two secret packages. If they manage to complete the task, they will be able to end the war. The mission is almost suicidal as the group is forced to cross enemy lines and they have no idea who to trust.
The film topped the list of the most watched movies on Netflix.
Plot of the film
The Black Crab movie opens with Caroline Edh casually talking to her daughter Vanya in her car. They stand in the tunnel, the radio plays in the car, they wait until the traffic suddenly stops. Suddenly they hear gunshots and screams, people abandon their cars. It turns out that this is the beginning of a bloody civil war. Amidst the chaos, Vanya is captured by hostile soldiers in black balaclavas, and the plot jumps back in time.
Further events take place in our days. Caroline arrives at a military base in her hometown on a top secret mission. There she meets fellow soldiers Granwick, Milk and Karimi. The four are then met with Colonel Raad, who explains the ins and outs of Operation Black Crab.
The invaders came from the north and bombed the base. Swedish troops have already lost hundreds of kilometers and the entire coastline is also lost, in fact, they are surrounded in the center. Electricity has been out for a long time, and people are without water for an indefinite period of time. In different cities there are also many victims of bombers.
Sweden is on the verge of losing the war, but there is a last, historic chance to change the situation in their favor. For the first time in 37 years, the entire archipelago is covered with ice, it stretches across the sea. Vehicles are too heavy to drive over, but the thin ice could support soldiers on skates.
Six months are allotted for Operation Black Crab. Their mission is to transport two capsules over ice from Tesenoi to the research facility in Odo. It is located in a remote region, and behind enemy lines, it can be compared to a crab due to the fact that the soldiers will be forced to get to it from the side. “Black” means night; the time of day at which they go on a trip so as not to draw attention to themselves.
Raad claims that they must sneak across the 100 nautical miles from Tesenoy to Odo and deliver mysterious capsules to the base that can, in the aftermath, stop the war. They are also joined by Captain Forsberg and Lieutenant Nylund, bringing their number to six.
Raad has a private conversation with Caroline, and shows a recent photo of her daughter at the research base in Odo. He promises her that once she completes the mission, she will be reunited with Vanya. They will destroy the army of the enemy, and they will be able to do whatever they want with their lives. So for Caroline, the main motivation is to get her daughter back.
Now, despite all the danger and risk that lies in wait for Caroline, she is determined to succeed. That night, the base is bombed, and six soldiers with equipment take capsules and quickly leave on skates.
You have to go at night, and when daylight appears, the first victim happens. The ice cracks beneath them and Forsberg falls into the icy water. Caroline jumps after her, and notices that she has already frozen to death. At the last minute, she decides to cut off her bag and save supplies for the team, but she herself fails to escape.
Caroline is lucky not to get hypothermia, the remaining five spend the night in an abandoned house and light a fire. The next morning, she calls on the Karimis, who are trying to contact the outside base. Later, helicopters appear in the sky, which are aimed at finding them. The group suspects him of being a traitor, but he innocently claims to have been in touch with his girlfriend, who works as a communications officer on the base. The base was suddenly bombed and he wanted to know if she was alive. The group agrees with his explanation, but still take Karimi’s gun for security reasons.
The journey continues, and on the next island they hide with an elderly couple who kindly feed them dinner. However, things take a dramatic turn when Caroline notices a gun holstered under the dining table, followed by a gunfight in which Karimi is killed and wounded by Malik.
What’s even more heartbreaking is that at that very moment they hear Karimi’s girl’s voice on the other end of the line. The group lacks the courage to tell her about his death and lie about what happened.
The remaining four members of the group continue their journey and stop at an abandoned ship. There, they discover that Malik’s injury is worse than he suspects. Also, Granwick gets curious and decides to open the capsule and finds that they are carrying a deadly virus.
Caroline decides to continue with the mission with only Van in mind, but gets stuck on thin ice. She tosses the capsules to Nylund, who follows her with Granvik. But their main test begins when they come under heavy machine-gun fire.
Movie ending
Granwick and Caroline came under fire immediately after Nylund’s escape. In the end, they outgunned most of the opponents, but Granwick had to jump on a grenade to save Caroline. She became even angrier at his death, running off to capture Nylund because if she didn’t pass on the virus to Odo, she wouldn’t see her daughter Vanya, who was kidnapped during the raid.
Plans for genocide
Caroline wakes up in the hospital and the doctor says that her wound was serious and they had to amputate some marks on her legs, but she survived. She then meets with the commander, who greets her and awards her two medals.
However, she was waiting to meet her daughter, but everything turned out to be a farce, invented by her commander. He did this in order to motivate her to complete the task. Vanya has never been to Odo’s. This news infuriates Caroline, and she decides to take revenge on her boss. Moreover, she is now a war hero and nothing threatens her.
Edh realizes that she was deceived and that now the only hope for saving humanity is to stop the release of the capsule and prevent biological warfare. Now she is making her plan of action, Caroline is looking for Nylund to use him to destroy the virus. Nylund hesitates, saying it’s too late, but Caroline uses his status to infiltrate the lab and steal the virus.
Victim
They go ahead and break into the lab, setting off an alarm and killing everyone in their path. The scientists who were there advise them to get away from this place. There is a danger of infection, so they must destroy the capsules in a deserted area.
The two of them then put on hazmat suits to get out of the lab and board a helicopter to escape. While escaping, Nylund notices that Caroline’s stitches have come apart, making it obvious that she is severely injured.
Caroline decides to destroy the virus herself. Nylund tries to dissuade her, begging her to think about her soul. She shoots Nylund but does not kill him, realizing his humanity.
What happened to Caroline and Vanya?
Flying away, Nylund watches in horror as Ed jumps off the platform, explodes at the cliff and takes the virus with him, sacrificing himself. This scene shows how cruel choices can be during a war. Caroline has hope that she will see her daughter again in a future life, and so she sacrifices herself for the good of humanity.
While plunging into the water, Ed hugs Vanya lovingly, which seems like an obvious hint that Vanya has been dead for a long time. She was waiting for her mother in the afterlife, and when they both dive into the water, Edh now feels calm. And the war is still raging, and there is probably no end in sight.
The meaning of the film
Netflix’s Black Crab describes a woman’s attempt to find her child in war-torn Europe. She needs to deliver a precious cargo to its destination. She is a former figure skater and was given a responsible job. And as a bonus, she was promised a meeting with her daughter. Caroline is relentless under pressure, and she is more than a match for all the men on the team. In special cases, she acts ruthlessly, doing everything possible to return her daughter. Unfortunately, this all leads to a shocking and dark ending.
When Caroline learns that this government she fought for is not trustworthy, she decides to have her own way. Blow up what she fought so hard for.
She was reunited with her daughter, but no longer in this world.
The film “Black Crab”, by its nature, turned out to be as cold and dangerous as ice, on which it is not always possible to skate. In confirmation of this: team skating shots are silhouettes against the background of fiery explosions at the base, which are left behind.
