Director: Veronika Lisková
The Visitors, being shown as part of the 27th Made in Prague Festival 2023, is a documentary shot on the Svalbard archipelago. It follows Zdenka, a young social anthropologist, arriving in Longyearbyen with her husband and three young sons to pursue a research project. In terms of the cinematography by Vojtech Vancura, there is much to enjoy in this picturesque meditation on these islands closest to the North Pole. We see charming sequences of Zdenka and her family playing with their sons out in the ice and snow.
But as a documentary, The Visitors lacks purpose and insight. Zdenka states her proposed research is into the ways this Svalbard community is responding to change. But she never frames this within any sort of larger academic discussion, nor appears to have any idea of how to proceed other than by conducting interviews. She gets increasingly annoyed that Norwegian speakers make her feel an outsider, but the obvious solution seems to pass her by.
We hear bits of interviews she conducts with others living in Longyearbyen, but her questions are soft and unfocused, on the lines of “Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?” which suggest she has no clear idea of what she is really looking for. One can’t help wondering what gives her the authority to investigate the question, or what she hopes to achieve.
The environment of Svalbard is definitely changing: there have been avalanches and landslides in the last few years as a result of much rainier weather. But we don’t need this documentary to tell us that. It is Zdenka’s husband, Jakub, rather than Zdenka, who has perceptive things to say. When the local mayor talks in woolly terms of going green and aiming for a zero-emissions in 10 years time, it is Jakub who points out what he sees as the arrogance of this. Norway is a country that has grown rich by releasing fossil fuels, he explains, and Longyearbyen Is one of the most polluted cities in Europe.
He then takes Zdenak through what a low-emissions policy might mean. Are people prepared to give up snowmobiles, flights, holidays and varied foodstuffs that have to be imported? But Zdenka herself simply smiles and refuses to engage with these issues. Rather, what she gets exercised about is what she feels is the Norwegian government’s failure to make outsiders like herself feel welcome.
What she says about her own desire to come to Svalbard is embarrassingly naïve. She talks about her desire for personal fulfilment and about feeling more calm and balanced since they arrived. But she seems unable to distinguish subjective feelings from objective research.
When she interviews an Ethiopian scientist disappointed he can’t find housing, she starts crying, apologising for not being able to help him. It’s a frankly embarrassing scene. A kindly Norwegian professor back in Oslo has to explain to her she can’t try to be a social worker as well as a researcher. We don’t see her response when at the end of the film, an interviewee, a Norwegian artist, spells out the real problem. Longyearbyen, he says, is becoming like a Swiss ski resort with polar bears, adding crisply “You shouldn’t be here.” The director Veronika Lisková gives no clue as to how we’re supposed to view this comment. But some of us may well feel like cheering.
The Visitors is screening at the 27th Made in Prague Festival Presents the Best of Czech Film
