Erik Skoldbjærg’s “Narvik: Hitler’s First Defeat” was released on Christmas Day 2022 in Norway. Within a month, it became the country’s most-watched domestic release of 2022, with 400,000 tickets sold (via Dagsavisen). On January 23, 2023, “Narvik” got its global release courtesy of Netflix. In two days, it surprisingly topped the U.S. charts on the streaming platform, with virtually no prior promotion (via Tom’s Guide).
The WWII drama particularly caught the attention of fans of “Battlefield V,” a shooter in which one of the multiplayer maps is a faithful recreation of 1940’s Battle of Narvik. In a recommendation post on the “Battlefield V” subreddit, a user whose account was recently deleted pointed out that the film has “a lot of things people will recognize from the map.” They also praised the efforts of DICE (an EA-owned studio and “Battlefield” developer) in accurately depicting the battle.
The comment section quickly picked up on the resemblance. One Redditor, u/TheMexicanJuan, went as far as saying that “the opening 10 minutes is basically the spawn sequence of Narvik Operations,” in reference to “Grand Operations,” a game mode that adds a narrative component to multiplayer battles by revealing their historical context. Given the reception “Narvik” enjoyed on Netflix, it has the potential to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the best World War II movies of all time, and judging by “Battlefield V” fans’ reactions, it’s a must-see for enthusiasts of that franchise as well.
