The film of Norwegian maritime special forces unit (Marinejegerkommandoen- MJK) announces the new recruiment term with an explicit action movie showing killings in an operation. The short movie ends with taking down all the hostages.
Communication expert Thor Erling Lund, talking to TV2, finds the movie solely macho and brutal. Lund thinks the movie destroys the Norwegian army’s struggle to communicate relatively soft values in recent years.
He believes the film portrays the soldiers as one-sided and very brutal.
– The film makes the impression that war is a cinch like playing Call of Duty, he says to TV2.
About Marinejegerkommandoen
Marinejegerkommandoen (MJK) is a Norwegian maritime special forces unit. It was formally established in 1951. It is located in Ramsund in the northern part of Norway and at Haakonsvern Naval Base in Bergen. MJK is employed in many kinds of operations, such as unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare, special reconnaissance, recovery or protection of ships and oil installations, various counter-terrorism missions, hostage rescue and direct action (which includes sabotage, raids, kidnapping and specific enemy assassinations).
As is expected from any special forces, the training to become an MJK operative is long and arduous, taking a minimum of two years and then further augmented by courses taken during the following contract period, such as field medical training, sniper training and forward air control (FAC) training. The candidates are put through extremely demanding tests, on one of the field-tests which is known to the public, each of the candidates (which at this point of the selection consists of about 5-8 men) must carry a 60 kg (130 lb) rucksack while being hunted by “enemies” which consists of Home Guard-soldiers, K-9 units and policemen. At some point in the test, the candidates are caught and sent to 36 hours of rough interrogation (CAC-training).