(Kongens Nei)
Country: NOR/SW/DK/EIRE
Technical: col/2.35:1 133m
Director: Erik Poppe
Cast: Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Karl Markovics, Arthur Hakalahti
Synopsis:
The events of April 1940 as seen from the perspectives of a battery commander, a German diplomat, a soldier cadet and the Norwegian king, who must decide whether or not to follow his pusillanimous cabinet into a negotiated peace with Hitler.
Review:
Conventionally high production values for a prestige piece extolling varied displays of national backbone at a time of critical stress are belied by handheld aesthetics (even down to some improvised focus pulling) and a pared down scenario: the narrative occupies no more than a couple of days, and individual scenes are played out without stretching time so that this crucial element is given its due weight. A powerful film, then, in which the gravity of unfolding events is never in doubt, and the character of the king in particular gains in substance as we watch.
(Kongens Nei)
Country: NOR/SW/DK/EIRE
Technical: col/2.35:1 133m
Director: Erik Poppe
Cast: Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Karl Markovics, Arthur Hakalahti
Synopsis:
The events of April 1940 as seen from the perspectives of a battery commander, a German diplomat, a soldier cadet and the Norwegian king, who must decide whether or not to follow his pusillanimous cabinet into a negotiated peace with Hitler.
Review:
Conventionally high production values for a prestige piece extolling varied displays of national backbone at a time of critical stress are belied by handheld aesthetics (even down to some improvised focus pulling) and a pared down scenario: the narrative occupies no more than a couple of days, and individual scenes are played out without stretching time so that this crucial element is given its due weight. A powerful film, then, in which the gravity of unfolding events is never in doubt, and the character of the king in particular gains in substance as we watch.
