L'ombra del nemico

Im usually not a huge fan of Danish movies but this one, however, takes it beyond that regular crap with cheesy endings and bad obvious acting. This movie has soul. The little things really have their part in this one and by paying attention to the details you get something you've never seen before.

First of all, the acting. Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen manages to make their parts more natural than I've seen in years. And for once they're not talking with a rhythmic, obvious-acting kind of tone but a real and honest voice. And after watching this one I truly understand why they call Thure The Man With The Thousand Faces.

As for the directing, it is award-winning stuff. Ill be surprised if it doesn't win several prizes and important ones too.

So if you read this, which I assume you do, go watch Flammen og Citronen. I can promise you intensity, honesty, love, bravery, hate, jokes and friendship all-in-one. This movies doesn't have those cheesy, dumb, ridiculous scenes but gives you something honest and pure.

I would recommend this for movie of the year so far, if I have the power to do so. I love this movie and I admire it even more. 9/10

FLAMMEN & CITRONEN (FLAME AND CITRON) is a dark long film that will prove to enlighten many about another aspect of WW II we know very little. Written (with Lars Andersen) and directed by Ole Christian Madsen it unfolds a true story about two 'heroes' of the Holger Danske resistance moment, a large group of Danish citizens who fought to kill not only the Nazi invaders but also the Danish supporters of Hitler's movement: the heroes are Flame (Thure Lindhardt) and Citron (Mads Mikkelsen) and the course of their lives is traced with brilliant use of sound, cinematography, a pervading darkness which serves the story well, and attention to minute details that makes the viewer almost involuntarily involved with their mission, their plight and the final results of their work.

In addition to the outstanding performances of Lindhardt and Mikkelsen, there are excellent performances by Christian Berkel as Hoffman, leader of the Gestapo, Stine Stengade as the puzzling spy/counterspy/ love interest Ketty Selmer, and a cast of bit players that remain in mind's eye long after the film is over. Though produced as an epic (and the film is a very very long 130 minutes!) the interaction between the lead characters is clearly defined and they come across as credible resistance fighters whose plight is always one of duress and fear.

As in all stories about war that are honest, there is no clear line between right and wrong, between survival and heroism, and it is to Madsen's credit that he keeps us in the shadows with every encounter. War is war and it alters everyone who is touched by it.

Grady Harp

Flame and Citron (2008)

An intensely intense film. It has great intentions, and the protagonists go around shooting Danish Nazi types in the head, which was probably a pretty good things to do during the war, at least in movie terms. It's gritty and moody, it has tension and good music and great dramatic filming (the light and the camera-work are both very clean and yet provocative).

But this cinematic prowess gets in the way of the movie a little, and the plot is slow enough that you begin to watch the surfaces of things as you go. In fact, some of the scenes (eating around large tables, meeting in broad, gloomy, almost beautiful basements) are just too pretty to support the ugly events at hand. Or so it seems. It's a vivid film, and unique, and it is a must see for World War II film buffs, just because it's so honest and so different. There are not that many Danish films about the war to start with, compared to British and American (and German) efforts.

This one is very bloody, and ruthless in both its actions and in the telling of them. Kudos for that, but warnings, too. As pretty as the filming is, it isn't always easy to watch. But that's part of the point, getting to what rises above the mere action--is it okay to kill bad people without a trial, without warning, without knowing even if they are bad at all. What is okay in war? What do we come to justify later, or at the time?

I don't know what to say about this movie. Original setting for many of us, Flame & Citron is based on the lives of two resistance fighters/assassins ("Citron & Flame") in occupied Denmark back in World War Two. The premise is that our leads are on order to do their killings but their own aim is to kill the leader of the local Gestapo unit. However, realpolitik, double crossing, self-preservation and a femme fatale all just get in the way of everything, so our lead duo have no option but to battle as much with their own as with the occupiers. Personal relationship problems for our duo helps to keep the film human, and the story never glamorises the pair, and in many ways does show them to be quite amateurish despite their legendary status even showing their botched jobs.

So how does it all go? Well, it's not an easy one to follow. Many a time not sure what to make of the storyline if we were to really learn much. The whole realpolitik aspect of the piece never seems to resolve and with so many sides in this film, it's hard to keep up. In fairness, that was likely the main point showing the true difficulty of war, as each group seems to play off of each other for their own ends, whatever they may be. This is a weakness overall, and with its length quite tiresome.

Acting in general is faultless and beautiful shots of the Scandanavian countryside plus panoramic views of the cities are great on the eye, but some bad camera work at times is just really amateurish and spoils things.

Overall a good film that is interesting and a new-ish angle for WW2 films. Some very good points and most will like it, but not as special as it possibly could have been.

Another good movie, occasionally but steadily coming from Denmark, Flammen & Citronen (Flame and Citron, 2008), not necessarily belonging to the genre, but still shot in a good old film-noir style ("black-and-white" detective or other crime stories, a film genre with its hey-days back in 1940's and 1950's, nevertheless kept alive over the years, having its newer "offsprings" often related to as neo-noir, with the latest solid follower of the style, Shanghai (2010), American product directed by another filmmaker from Danish Scandinavian neighbourhood, Mikael Håfström from Sweden), based on the historically true story (with all the necessary fictional cinematic alternations) about the title hit-man and his driver, two among, apparently, very few but still existent resistance fighters in Nazi occupied Denmark, targeting at first only Danish collaborators, subsequently ordered to liquidate Germans, and, eventually, hit-man's girlfriend, getting themselves (and spectators along) ultimately confused in who their friends and foes are...