Mar 20, 2026 7:21am PT

‘Arctic Link’ Review: A Visually Polished but Narratively Inert Meditation on Technology

Swiss filmmaker Ian Purnell makes a curious debut, premiering in the main competition at the CPH: DOX documentary festival.

Murtada Elfadl

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Murtada Elfadl

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Courtesy of CPH: DOX

Swiss director Ian Purnell‘s documentary “Arctic Link” is a confounding experience to sit through. Ostensibly a film about the internet coming to a remote island off Alaska decades after it has taken over the rest of the world, it spends too much time focusing on the manufacturing and transport of fibre optic cables, and too little on the people of the island. Some of the film, meanwhile, is spent aboard the vessel slowly drifting on the ocean on its way to deliver said cables. Though it’s well-shot — with long, uninterrupted, drone-like shots of nature — it lacks a coherent narrative and fails to make a point about the effects of technology on the modern world.

'Arctic Link' Review: A Visually Polished but Narratively Inert Meditation on Technology