Plot
The story centers around three sailors who conduct shady business on board their vessel, Sandy Hook. The film starts with two of them, Tom Jansen (Helge Jordal) and Sverre (Hans Ola Sørlie), taking tourists on a polar bear safari. During this trip and at a later scene at a pub in Longyearbyen, where Tom's girlfriend, Eva Jelseth (Kjersti Holmen) is introduced, the viewers are briefed on the politics of Svalbard and the large Soviet presence. The third seaman, Lars (Sverre Anker Ousdal), presents plans to freight a bulldozer to the mainland from Sarstangen. They have been instructed to dump the bulldozer underway as part of an insurance fraud scheme, but have instead have made arrangements to sell the vehicle on Greenland. While at port, Tom is called to visit Governor Bache (Jon Eikemo), who warns that he will be keeping an eye on them.
After a dramatic but successful delivery of the bulldozer to the purchasers, they return towards Longyearbyen. They report to Isfjord Radio to say they were caught in a storm, but deviate their route back to avoid returning too early. They get caught in actual bad weather and decide to pull up in a near-by island, Kjerulføya, north of Nordaustlandet. The following day they go ashore to find food, but instead find a cable. They follow the cable until finding a Soviet bearing station. While at the station, they are discovered by the Russians. They return fire after being shot at, killing a Russian and having Sverre wounded.
They escape and decide to mix with the fishing fleet to avoid being spotted. However, they are intercepted by a seemingly civilian Aeroflot helicopter, which turns out to be heavily armed and fires at the ship. Sandy Hook steers into a narrow bay and the protagonists fire back, eventually destroying the helicopter with a firebomb. They continue to Kapp Dufferin, where they anchor up. Tom rows to land to find supplies, but while on land a Soviet helicopter bombes Sandhy Hook, killing Lars and Sverre. Tom has to walk across Spitsbergen to reach Longyearbyen. After a long march through the wilderness he reaches a closed mine and rides with an aerial tramway for coal to Longyearbyen.
Tom awakes at hospital in the company of Bache. He is not believed concerning the sinking of his ship and is sent to Oslo for interrogations by a United States colonel (Jon Ausland) and other American military personnel. In a scene at Holmenkollen Park Hotel, the Soviet ambassador and Norwegian minister discuss the consequences of public knowledge of the incident. Tom is offered a new identity and a job on board a foreign trade vessel. On his way to the port, he escapes from the military police by mixing with a carnival parade. Two endings of the film were made. The second one had a longer chase scene involving rendezvousing with Eva, but in both cases Tom ends up being killed. Whether this is done by Soviet or American intelligence is left as an open question.
Read more about this topic: Orion's Belt (film)
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)