War Sailor

We follow Alfred (Freddy, among friends) and his childhood mate Sigbjørn from before the war, when they in 1939 escape unemployment by accepting an offer to sail on a transatlantic cargo ship, through the highly dramatic years of war, and into the traumatic post-war period. While the two men are at sea, Alfred's wife Cecilia and their three young children stay in Bergen, awaiting signs of life from him and praying that their father and husband return unharmed. 

Gunnar Vikene has attempted to capture the dimensions of this sacrifice, and War Sailor is like the ocean, great, vast and deep. That is why our main characters sail in an Atlantic convoy, to Malta and toward Murmansk. That is why we follow the war both at sea and at home (Bergen). That is why the film stretches over 30 years (and two and a half hours). That is why it portrays men, women and children. [...] We understand the difficulty of getting this story told. It is nearly impossible to tell in words. But it is possible on film when it is done this way. 

(Excerpt from Anne Gjelsvik's analysis of the film at Montages.)