Pioneer

Pioneer (Pionér, 2013) is a Norwegian thriller you can watch online on iFILM, set in the early 1980s when oil turns the North Sea into a goldmine. The state wants a pipeline run up from 500 metres down, and diver Petter has the nerve to go where almost no one can.

Then something goes wrong on the seabed. What looked like an engineering job curdles into a cover-up, and Petter starts pulling at threads that lead far above his pay grade. Aksel Hennie anchors the film, with Wes Bentley and Stephen Lang as the American side of an uneasy joint venture where no one quite trusts the gas mix or each other.

Director Erik Skjoldbjærg shoots it claustrophobic on purpose — cramped pressure chambers, helium-warped voices, the constant hum of risk. This is a small man versus big oil, told as paranoia rather than heroics. Stream Pioneer (2013) online on iFILM.