DEAUVILLE, France (Variety) - Harrison Ford believes his submarine saga "K-19: The Widowmaker" will find a warmer welcome in coming international berths than it did on home turf.

"This is a very unconventional film for American cinema," Ford said Wednesday at the American Film Festival here. "It's not a cowboys-and-Indians, good guys/bad guys movie. It doesn't depend on the usual devices of submarine movies.

"These are men fighting against an invisible and insidious enemy that is not represented by another nation. It's rather more complex and perhaps slightly more difficult for an audience. I think this film may find an easier reception in Europe and in other parts of the world than it did in the summer of 2002 in the United States."

"K19" director Kathryn Bigelow opined: "I think the film is extremely unique for an American audience. It celebrates Soviet courage, and I think that's an emotion and sentiment that may take some time to embrace." [...]

[...] In spite of the film producers' statements of intent to re-create a documentally correct story of the tragic events, which took place aboard our submarine in 1961, we have encountered a production, which recalls the worst examples of myths and feature characters of the "Cold War" epoque.

The whole screenplay's contents, the style of its composition, far-fetching and stupidity of many episodes and activities attributed to the crew; total obscenity and indecent expressions in characters' speech, low general culture and technical illiteracy of crewmembers, their lack of discipline and responsibility, total drunkeness, atmosphere of hostility among the crewmembers - all that instills us, the real participants of the mentioned events, with the feeling of deep outrage and protest against such a portrayal of the tragedy, which happened aboard our ship in 1961.

It is our point of view, that the whole spirit of the screenplay is focused on insulting not only the entire first crew of the K-19 submarine, but the whole Navy of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation. This is a desecration of the memory of the real defenders of our Homeland, fallen in that tragedy. [...]