On Screen: “La Palma”
La Palma
With the recent eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily in the news, it’s a good time to discover “La Palma,” a four-part series on Netflix, revolving around a Norwegian family who travel to that Spanish landmass, part of the Canary Islands, to bask in the sun during the Christmas holiday.
Actually, the disaster drama begins even before Fredrik (Anders Baasmo), Jennifer (Ingrid Bolsa Berdal) and their children — Sara (Alma Gunther) and Tobias (Barnard Storm Lager) — arrive just as some tourists die near La Palma’s Bonita Beach in a bizarre boating accident.
When Director Alvaro (Jorge de Juan) of the La Palma Geological Institute hears that news, he immediately suspects that Mother Nature might be planning something big. The last time La Palma’s Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted, in 1949, a huge fault line formed at the base.
“If the volcano erupts, a mountain mass the size of Manhattan might erupt into the sea and cause the largest tsunami the world has ever seen,” he warns.
Meanwhile, a young geologist, Marie Ekdal (Thea Sofia Loch Naess), realizes that the instruments she put in a cave inside the mountain have stopped sending data. So she recruits crotchety Haukur (Olafur Darri Olafsson), a veteran geologist, to join her, going into the cave to investigate.
When they get inside, they find water running down the walls — a strange phenomenon that was not occurring when Marie installed the instruments. There’s also a massive crack in the ceiling of the cave which might signal an impending eruption.
So the plot pivots around the question: Will the scientists and the Norwegian family be able to escape the avalanche of ash, gas and lava as they fight for their lives?
Scripted by Lara Gudmestad and Rosenlow Eeg and directed by Kaspar Barfoed, the acting and overdubbing are mediocre and the conclusion is rather predictable. On the other hand, it’s remarkably timely and strangely compelling.
In Norwegian and Spanish, on the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “La Palma” is a binge-worthy 6 — with all episodes streaming on Netflix.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.