| Director | Thomas Vinterberg |
|---|---|
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $6.8 million |
In August 2000, the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet begins an exercise in the Barents Sea. The fleet deployed includes Kursk, an Oscar-class submarine. At sea, weapons officer Pavel Sonin reports that the interior temperature of a HTP torpedo is increasing rapidly, indicating a potential hydrogen peroxide leak. The captain however ignores Pavel's concerns and moments later the torpedo prematurely explodes, killing the weapons room crew. A secondary explosion of the remaining torpedoes rips a hole through the submarine's forward hull, sending the ship to the sea bed.
The surviving crew members rally at the aft-most compartment, now rapidly taking on water. The crew desperately await rescue, while on dry land the sailors’ wives begin to hear rumours regarding the submarine. Royal Navy Commodore David Russell detects the seismic events and deduces that Kursk has had an accident. Admiral Grudzinsky, commander of the Northern Fleet, initially believes there are no survivors, but immediately tapping is heard through the hull of the submarine and the Russians deploy a rescue submersible. The old and poorly maintained craft cannot form a seal on the Kursks hull and is forced to return to the surface and wait for a 12-hour battery recharge.
Meanwhile the survivors begin to run low on air, requiring two crew members to swim into a flooded compartment to retrieve oxygen cartridges. Another rescue attempt is made, but the submersible again cannot form a seal on the hull. On land the sailors' families, wives and friends grow resentful of the repeated stone-walling by the Russian Admiralty, who also reject foreign offers of help for fear of exposing Russian naval secrets. Despite this, Admiral Grudzinsky accepts an earlier offer from Russell, but Grudzinsky is relieved of command shortly afterwards. The Russian Navy orders Russell, along with British and Norwegian divers, not to approach the Kursk. A third Russian attempt to rescue the survivors is made, but again the Russian submersible still cannot form a seal and the Russians ultimately and finally agree to foreign assistance.
Aboard the Kursk, the crew, in an attempt to raise morale, enjoy a "breakfast buffet", during which a crew member accidentally knocks an oxygen cartridge into the water, causing a flash fire that consumes the remaining oxygen. With minutes of breathable air, the crew say their goodbyes whilst singing ‘The Sailor's Band’. Russell's divers arrive too late at the submarine, finding the entire hull flooded and the crew dead. At the funeral, Misha, son of one of the sailors on board, refuses to shake Admiral Petrenko's hand. A land-based member of the crew gives Misha his father's maritime watch; his father had earlier sold it so that he could buy champagne for Pavel Sonin's wedding.