A Danish Movie for You

Trying to keep things a little light for a few more days. I mean, how many times can you talk about Russian "collusion" or the peaceful nature of modern Islam?

So, we talk movies.

For most of the past century, movies have been dominated by Anglo-American films. Well, that might remain so now, but there is some truly excellent work being done in other countries which is well-worth watching.

Saw a non-Anglo-American film today on Amazon which I highly recommend. It's a Danish production from some three years ago, but I had not heard of it before. It's variously titled "9. April," "April 9" and "April 9th." You will find it under one or all of those names when you search. As you can probably guess, it's about the 9th of April . . . 1940, that is. That being date the Nazis invaded Denmark and in a few scant hours forced the government in Copenhagen to capitulate. The tiny, poorly equipped, and politically hobbled Danish armed forces had no chance against the Germans' aircraft, armor, and well-equppied and motorized infantry. Denmark was quickly occupied. That, of course, as we have discussed here before, did not mean that the Danes just rolled over and played dead for the Germans. The Danes subsequently drove their occupiers mad with a mix of active and passive aggressive resistance--and saved nearly their entire Jewish population from the Nazi extermination camps. Worth a read.

This little film is not about that post-occupation resistance. Based on a true story, it tells of a small unit of bicycle-mounted Danish infantry told to stop or at least delay the German advance. The Danes are sent on their bikes towards the border with Germany in the wake of reports of German troops crossing that border. The Danish government had decided not to pre-deploy its army for fear of "provoking" the Nazis.

The film is beautifully shot with a great sense of pace and timing. With a blend of an excellent low-key musical score, wonderful editing, and direction, it even manages to produce a feeling of suspense, even if we all know the outcome. The production seems to have paid a lot of attention to period detail, with clothing, uniforms, vehicles, and weapons mostly right. It has some absolutely wonderful scenes, kind of evoking "Private Ryan," of the Danes on bicycles moving across the screen, backlit by the impending sunrise. The acting, by the way, is very good; the actors manage to convey the sense of duty and at the same time of hopelessness that the real participants must have felt as they peddaled towards the panzers. Whether it intended to or not, the film is also an interesting exposition on leadership. The character of the second Lieutenant, played by Pilou Asbæk of "Game of Thrones" and "The Borgias" fame, is an excellent study in the demands of leadership, and the stresses it produces. Very nicely done. The battle scenes, by the way, are extremely well shot. Again, some of the urban combat reminds of that in "Private Ryan." The battle ends as we all know it does, so I am not giving anything away by noting that the Lieutenant orders his unit to surrender once he realizes the hopelessness of his position. The irony being, of course, that the government in Copenhagen had agreed to German terms hours before.

OK, without getting too philosophical, or reading too much into a movie, I think I am noting a sort of conservative revolt underway in some recent Scandinavian film. The wonderful Norwegian series "Occupied," the movie "Max Manus," this one under discussion, and some others seem to show that underneath all the soy boy inclusiveness and welcoming of "refugees" that we have seen in recent years in Scandinavia, there is a bubbling caldron of nationalist resistance to the political correctness that is destroying those societies.

I hope so.