Climate change fantasy/drama from Scandinavia
At the beginning of Eternal, an earthquake in Iceland opens a huge fissure in the ocean’s floor, raising the water temperature, destabilizing the tectonic plates, altering the electromagnetic field surrounding Earth and allowing lethal space radiation to reach the surface. In short: the end of the world is suddenly visible, and mere decades away. Part of the planet’s population starts partying, other people try to find a solution. Elias, a brilliant Danish student, is obsessed with news surrounding the fissure, writing papers about its effects and possible ways to avoid them. He meets Anita, a beautiful young singer, and the two fall in love, even prepare to get married. But when Anita gets pregnant, Elias has just been allowed a scholarship in MIT and he wants nothing to distract him from his mission to save the planet. The couple decide to have an abortion, break off the relationship, and Elias moves to the United States.
Many years later, Elias is an experienced captain on a scientific submarine, helming Mankind’s attempt to plug the fissure. But whenever the hole in the ocean’s floor is approached, weird phenomena start taking place. One of them is that Elias inexplicably gets glimpses of the alternate life he would have led if he had stayed with Anita and raised a family with her. Confronted with the sacrifices he has made, the fissure seems to allow him a choice: sacrifice even more… or not.
