Even for a casual watcher with no ties to the city of Stavanger and no memories of the open views from its hills, the film’s footage evokes wistfulness.
The poet and filmmaker Odveig Klyve has lived for several decades in Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway. The city encircles its harbor, on hillsides that slope down to the seafront. It has been a site of international commerce for hundreds of years, Klyve said, first for herring fishing, then international shipping, then the oil industry. “It has always been a city linked to the sea and what the sea can give,” she told me recently, over Zoom.
The vistas from Stavanger are striking: sparkling ocean, with islands and mountains in the distance. Recently, however, a new industry’s arrival has obstructed the view and, as Klyve put it, changed the very feeling of the city. When cruise ships first came to the harbor, about ten years ago, Klyve remembers her neighbors being excited about the important economic boost that tourists would bring to the area; some residents even put up banners to welcome visitors into their gardens.
In “View,” Klyve addresses the phenomenon in a quiet way. The documentary, shot by several camerapeople stationed in different parts of the city, shows exactly what it looks like when one of the cruise liners arrives. The scale is striking—the ship looks more like a geographic feature than a mode of transportation. There is no narration, and, despite the controversy that surrounds the ships, the film itself makes no argument.
Outside her filmmaking, Klyve writes what she calls documentary poetry—poems that address current events in a sidelong way, prioritizing images over assertions. The same approach is clear in “View.” Even for a casual watcher with no ties to Stavanger and no memories of the open views from its hills, the footage evokes wistfulness. The view is gorgeous, bright, colorful—and then suddenly hidden behind a towering wall flecked with cabin windows.
wesinjapan The ad placement!
Bull in the china shop tourism.
In the words of Norman Mailer, “elephantine colossus.”
you don't want people traveling, having fun .. vacationing .. guess what tourist can be avoided , ignored , left alone .. use the extra money to visit florida , paris , florence ,death valley , space ride , start a cancer research .. buy a telescope
Where's the cover? (that stupid, white washed, elephantine colossus image of a window, that showed up at my doorstep.
Horrendous things. Should be banned from entering small ports
I never know what’s going to be outside living where I live. Take last night for example. Some weirdo was out cutting wood just off our property, and then taking breaks to fire his gun, and then back to cutting wood with his chain saw, and then back to firing his gun…
ollobrains Wow very striking!! Wish it was a bit longer
They’re big all right. Stavanger last week.
CC majoliv
yeah, tell me about it..
Get on one of these floating hotels at your peril.
This one was double the height of my hotel in Stavanger. Opened the curtains to find she'd moored overnight. In some ports emissions from cruise liners can be more than the town they're visiting!
It’s a very interesting documentary. Thank you.
Wow?!? It's a point of view I didn't consider!! 😮
Really? They were surprised that cruise ships would have a negative impact on their town?
Rich people are a plague.