Knut Erik Jensen’s Norwegian documentary takes full advantage of the frozen landscape, and of the surreal eloquence of a frostbitten but determined chorus belting out hymns and anthems against the wind and snow. The Berlevåg Male Choir (whose home is well north of the Arctic Circle) comprises local fishermen and factory workers ranging from lapsed Marxists to recovering addicts — indelible eccentrics all, with the history of Europe written on their faces. And the film starkly traces their efforts to prepare for their concert in the big city: Murmansk. Their confrontation with the industrially blighted surroundings of the former Soviet city, with its memorials to some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II, thrusts the choir into a historical and world context that brings about some inner division — and a disharmonious rehearsal. The power of music prevails, however, and the final image of the singers intoning a hymn as the great white of Arctic winter absorbs them is both heartwarming and tragic.