100. Into The Darkness (De forbandede år); movie review

 

INTO THE DARKNESS (DE FORBANDEDE ÅR)

Cert 15

153 mins

BBFC advice: Contains brief strong sex, nudity

Everyone should have stood up to Hitler, regardless of whether it meant them risking their lives, shouldn't they?

That is a very easy sentence to write given the hindsight which we all possess, more than 75 years after the end of the Second World War.

We have revelled in the derring-do of the French resistance, Anne Frank and her family in Holland and those who risked all in the Czech Republic.

But was the decision to stand up to the Nazis really that straightforward?

I have two very close German friends whose fathers served in the army because they had 'no other choice'.

And what of those who lived in countries such as Denmark where the Germans occupied without the same overt aggression they showed in many other nations?

As Anders Refn's Into the Darkness highlights, the Danes did not lay the welcome mat out to the Germans but had to decide whether they would strive to maintain relative normality or fight an unwinnable battle.

In the early part of the 1940s, they would have been convinced that the Nazis would win the war such was their military might.

Consequently, they would have had the future in their minds' eye and the prospect of living in a German-led Europe.

That is not to say there was no resistance in Denmark as Refn's film reflects.

He views the war through the lens of the well-to-do Skov family, whose patriarch, Karl (Jesper Christensen) owns a factory.

Privately, Karl finds the German occupation and his business dealings with them distasteful but is astute enough not to express these opinions publicly.

Unfortunately,  his family become fractured because they are rather less discreet in their political views.

His son, Axel (Mads Reuther) is impulsive both in his desire for women and his opposition to the Nazis and he is constantly having to bail him out of a crisis.

Meanwhile, Michael (Gustav Dyekjær Giese) his son from a previous marriage has already fought against the Communists in Finland, so sympathises with the Germans.

Even worse, in the eyes of Karl and his wife (Bodil Jørgensen), their daughter (Sara Viktoria Bjerregaard) becomes embroiled with a German officer (Roman Schomburg).

The question which is posed in Into The Darkness is over when benign expediency becomes collaboration.

It was a gripping subject, well-acted but the movie is partly spoilt by jarring direction and editing which rushed it too quickly from one scene to another.

Nevertheless, watch it and think... "what would I have done?"

Reasons to watch: A thought-provoking angle on the Second World War

Reasons to avoid: Too long

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know: During the Second World War, approximately 6,000 Danes fought with Nazi Germany after joining the Free Corps Denmark, including 77 officers of the Royal Danish Army.

The final word. Anders Refn: "We have been extremely careful with the research so everything which is in the film, is modelled on reality so we had a lot of both people from that period but also we have scientists and professors in history so everything in the film is double-checked more than we ever could because it’s a very delicate scene in Denmark because it was a painful period for a lot of families." 13th Floor

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