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A sort of Arctic existentialist drama, this Norwegian film was mostly shot in bleak conditions on a frigid island off the northern Scandanavian coast. It is based on a novel about a poet in Oslo in the 1920s, Henrik Larsen (Garb B. Eidsvold). He wants to marry Gertrude (Camilla Martens), but she refuses his proposal. Larsen goes to work for a fur trading company and is assigned to a year in Greenland. At a trapping outpost, he is welcomed rudely by the arrogant, brutish Randbaek (Stellan Skarsgard). Also at the post is the scientist Holm (Bjorn Sundquist). Randbaek , who despises women, constantly ridicules Larsen, stealing his diary and laughing at his affection for Gertrude. Despite being an intellectual, Larsen proves capable of getting more furs than Randbaek. The jealous Randbaek begins to take measures to "even the competition."