Original subtitles

It all started as a crazy idea.

NORTH OF THE SUN

We discovered this unique beach north of the Arctic Circle.

The waves were great, the beach full of debris.

Could we build a hut and surf through an entire winter?

We brought a camera to film everything.

From the air with a paraglider, and out in the surf.

It will be cold.

But I'm kind of psyched to feel that cold.

-Really? -No, I dread it.

-I don't know. -I'm psyched.

We had planned and changed our minds for over a year.

-What do we want? -Porridge.

Past the expiration date. That means it's free.

We decided to live on food that had passed the expiration date.

-This is excellent food! -What is it?

Scalloped potatoes.

Our van runs on used vegetable oil.

We want to live off of leftovers, basically.

I just ate the whole box. Only two grapes were rotten.

-The rest were fine. -It's crazy.

-Ready, J�rn? -Yeah.

-Psyched? -Yeah...

To get there, at least.

It's going to be a tough hike. These backpacks weigh a ton.

-Let's go. -All right.

I'm used to checking my cell phone and being online.

Reading e-mail. Being around friends.

We'll be alone a lot here. I wonder how that will be?

My friends say we'll go crazy.

This isn't some big winter survival challenge.

We're simply doing this to have a cool time.

I used to only surf for fun.

But when I met Inge at film school, he taught me about surf reports.

That's when I started finding serious waves.

And we've been great surfing buddies ever since.

Well?

-Is it heavy? -Yeah. But the view is awesome.

The autumn storms bring in major waves from the Atlantic.

And they land right here.

We won't tell you where this is. We want to give others the chance -

- to find their own paradise.

Our bay. This is where we're going to live.

We've been here a couple of days now.

This is where our cabin will go.

From here to...

Here. Roughly.

That will shelter us from the wind.

This is going to become our house.

It just needs to dry. And we need more.

It's time to gather more materials.

Will we find enough to build a whole house?

We find things we can use in the sand. We're like kids again.

Look what I found!

Aw...

Ready?

-It works! -It's awesome!

An eagle!

Yeah.

-Cool! -It's out hunting.

The rest of the world seems far away.

Time no longer exists. My cell phone, news, doesn't matter so much.

With so little to relate to, I feel free.

No closing time. We can play whenever we want.

We had to call the police today. Let them know we're alive and well.

Someone had reacted to our parked van.

We thought we wouldn't have to deal with other people.

But I guess it's inevitable.

And it's nice to know someone over there cares about us.

We have to take advantage of the fair weather and build a solid house.

J�rn?

-It's time to build a house. -Mhm...

One, two...

Here goes the first nail.

Shit.

We have to do something here.

It was supposed to fit in here, but we're a few centimeters short.

We'll end up with crooked walls.

-They'll slant up? -Yeah, like this.

But the house will be crooked anyway.

All we brought were nails, some tools, and an extremely rusty saw.

We hope to find the rest out here.

Awesome!

Shit, how nice is that?

It's all in German!

I'm kind of in shock.

A little less J�rn.

-How will we work now? -We'll see.

We took our first-aid kit from a car at the dump.

I wish we had made sure there were painkillers in the packet.

I haven't thought about what might happen if we got seriously injured.

We've kind of avoided thinking about that.

One day, a guy called Heikki showed up.

A Finnish doctor, out hiking.

I wish we had met him a little sooner.

So, what do you like?

I was supposed to have a lime, too, but I forgot it in the tent.

We can have a Cuba libre. With no lime.

He ended up getting his surfboard and staying for over a week.

New bottles wash up daily.

I wonder whose it was? Has it crossed all the world's oceans?

Maybe survived hurricanes, -

- before ending up here, with us?

We use the bottles for insulation.

Heikki is heading back over the mountain.

Back to his job. Back to chasing time.

-Take care. -Nice meeting you.

You too. It was a pleasure.

The wind has changed now, and it is much colder.

We really need an oven.

This is a good chimney.

We have made an oven out of an oil barrel.

Stones along the side to store heat. And an opening in front.

It's working!

Here. Our first fire inside the cabin!

-We'll be warm from now on. -Yeah!

Shit!

It's raining. And we're inside.

And smoke is coming out... Ouch, it's hot!

I hear it burning down there.

Smoke is coming out of a hole in the ground.

Time to get warm!

And dry some clothes!

One, two...

It's awesome in here.

We've been alone here for months.

J�rn has told some stories for the third time.

Only with new details now and then.

We follow our own schedule.

If we say it's Sunday, it is. A day of rest.

I think we'll have quite a few Sundays.

So much for that day.

Just before coming out here, I said goodbye to my girlfriend.

Aurora is working and traveling in New Zealand.

Everything is backwards there. When she's sleeping, I'm awake.

It's spring there, and fall here.

It's strange that she's so far from here.

On the other side of the planet.

It's hard to keep in touch without cell phone coverage.

But we can call from the top of the mountain.

It sure is great to hear her voice!

One net weighs approximately 100 kilos.

I estimate we'll clean up -

- about one ton of trash from this beach.

That's our goal, at least.

People clean their yards.

Plant flowers. Mow the lawn.

Our yard is full of trash.

Strange things, like rope, or plastic that has been crushed by the sea.

The birds eat it and get constipated. And they die.

Yes!

Look at this guy!

How will we get rid of all this?

What are you hoping to find? Meat and potato hash would be nice.

-Frozen dinners are good. -Yeah.

And I hope we find more fish.

Even though it seems like that's all we've eaten for months.

-But fish is good. -I hope we find some...steaks.

Yeah, that would be good.

And some vegetables.

Vegetables!

-I'll put that on the list. -Vegetables!

A farmer named Jarle lets us park our van at his farm.

He also lends us power to charge our camera batteries.

People are incredibly nice up here.

We're out of food. So it's time for a trip to the store.

-A storm's on its way. -It changes so fast.

Look. We're surrounded.

It was sunny a little while ago. Now it's all gray.

-Carrot cake! -Seriously? No way!

Meatballs.

That will be good.

This is perfectly good. That date means nothing.

We're going to have heavy backpacks tomorrow.

This isn't your average camping food.

Isn't this great?

There's a storm coming in tomorrow.

You bet your ass. All the signs are there.

No sailing weather tomorrow.

This has come gradually.

But tomorrow's storm will hit without warning.

So make sure you keep your hands on your hats.

Let me get some potatoes before my wife comes home.

It's heavy!

Sometimes it's tempting to turn back.

Find a warm house. Take a shower. Put on some dry clothes.

Winter is on its way. At times we wonder why we're doing this.

Out here, you get few, but strong impressions.

You have time to let things sink in.

Nothing interrupts you here. That feeling is much stronger.

Pretty good trash, huh?

The days are getting colder. We can't surf as long as before.

The first time your head goes under, it's like your blood freezes to ice.

Fantastic! This is amazing!

This is so amazing! This is "feel good".

This is the last time we saw the sun.

The polar night begins. The sun doesn't shine this far north.

We are north of the sun.

Come on!

My fingers...feel like logs.

And my shoes -

- are so frozen they feel like slalom boots.

How was the surf?

Cold.

But good.

Nice waves.

We had one important rule: Keep the fire going.

And never scrimp on wood.

We work more and more alone.

Ironically, I still need time to myself out here.

We have yet to argue. We have worked well together.

Maybe we vent our frustration chopping wood?

I read that Hawaii and California have had their best winter in years.

Maybe we should go there instead? It's warmer.

-How cold is it today? -Let me check the olive oil.

It's cold!

The olive oil isn't even viscous. It's frozen solid.

It was windy last night. It felt like it was snowing in.

I felt some snow on my face.

Somewhere around here we need to insulate better.

-We need to do something. -Bury the house, maybe?

In snow.

Cover it, like an igloo.

Now the house is great. We did what fishermen used to do.

They would flip their boats, cover them with snow, and sleep under them.

There. The wheelbarrow is ready.

-Think the creek is frozen? -There should be some water.

It might spray on me.

Yes, I see water!

Piece of cake!

And very cool.

We're excited about going home for Christmas.

But first we want to celebrate here.

Driving home for Christmas

Oh, I can't wait to see those faces...

Spacy!

Yeah!

When the weather gets cold, Mother Mouse says to her young:

Make sure you avoid the trap...

What should we call it?

-Reidun. -It needs a rascally name.

-K�re. -Is that a rascally name?

-Don't you think so? -No. Ronny.

OK.

Ronny.

We're back from Christmas.

We only have a few hours of dusk. That's it. And then it's night again.

How should we spend the daylight hours? Chopping wood, or surfing?

Feel like sticking your hand in there?

The ocean is scary when it's so dark.

Dark and deep. What lurks under the surface?

This is hard!

It was messy out there. With lots of small waves between the big ones.

I was just kind of rocking back and forth out there.

It was great balance training.

I haven't been cold like this in a while.

It's a different kind of cold than normal cold.

Now the snow has started melting. Especially from the roof.

Is it dripping over there?

It's practically raining inside.

-Where is it dripping? -Over on the firewood.

And on that wood we were drying.

And two, three, four places over there.

We have to get the snow off the roof.

-It's early, isn't it? -Real damned early.

You're quite the optimist today, J�rn.

I'll take a picture of you afterward. Call it "Happy Boy".

And then I'll whack you over the head with a shovel.

It's been over three months since we saw sun in our bay.

Look at those contours, the way they go...

-You can see the mountains again. -There's that notch.

-I'm practically blinded. -We aren't used to the sun.

-It's pretty. -Fantastic.

In another week the sun will be down here.

The sun is on the mountains, but not down on the beach.

We see it way up there, tempting us.

I may have said it before, -

- but this is paradise.

"Hakuna matata."

When we started clearing trash again, there was almost more than before.

This is a project we'll never be able to complete.

But we're going to do our best.

Anti-wrinkle cream.

Probably good for something.

The seaweed stays.

A local garbage company is going to help us remove it.

They're sending a helicopter.

We aren't sure when they're coming, so we have to hurry.

-What should we do today? -Stand here.

Here it comes!

The helicopter took several trips.

They said we had collected almost three tons of trash.

We have spent months collecting trash.

And that helicopter removed it all in a half-hour.

They'll probably just dump it at sea.

And we'll have to pick it up again next year.

-Excellent. -Now what?

-Now we chill. -Just hang out?

Congratulations!

Doesn't that feel great?

It all started as a crazy idea.

And suddenly that crazy idea was our life.

We knew it would be rough.

But now I just want to stay longer.

This is such a simple life. Doing what we want, when we want.

"He was accustomed to other things abroad. Fruit farms, cattle ranges."

"Like nothing this part of the world had ever seen."

"Like those you read about in fairy tales."

I have had time to focus on myself here.

But I miss having more people around.

And I can't wait to see my girlfriend again!

We have surfed in ice water, chopped wood to stay warm, -

- really felt what it's like to be alive.

I hope I can bring some of that feeling with me.

Here we've had time to sit and look at nothing. Or everything.

Subtitles: Nick Norris