Flame & Citron (Denmark)

I'd missed this film at SIFF 2009 and had heard good things from those who did watch it then. So I was very pleased to see it making its way back through Seattle. While it wasn't 100% what I expected I thought it was a very solid film and worth checking out if the material appeals to you.

Set during WW-II the film introduces us to two rather different men working as a team for the Danish resistance. Their main task appears to be the execution of locals working with the Nazi occupation. Flame is a younger man (around 23) whose code name presumably comes from his bright red hair. He's mainly the trigger man of the pair working through several killings a day in some cases. He almost always presents as relatively calm - towards the cold and methodical end of the spectrum. The older partner, Citron more often than not is the driver and looks perennially haggard, often dripping sweat - but still very dependable. They have a significant support network up to and including the local police (in voice over Flame says that everyone who's not scared assists them). Their leadership consistently wants to restrict their targets to Danish citizens fearing repercussions if they attack any of the German leadership. On the other hand Flame and Citron would very much like to ignore these orders and assassinate the head of the local Gestapo. That underlying tension of goals persists throughout the film.

Stressful as the basic situation must have been there's more intrigue afoot. Add into the mix the source of their orders which at some points causes the pair to begin to question the motivation of some of the targeting, political calculations from several interests about how to run the resistance, and a femme fatale whose allegiances are uncertain. Based on a true story about the Danish resistance Flame and Citron are portrayed as men who struggled to do a job they viewed as necessary to take their country back. Heroes to the Danish people who wanted the Nazi's out and feared by the occupiers (who'd put a large bounty on their heads). As much of the tension comes from trying to understand who is trying to take advantage of who during wartime as from the fear of them being caught.

In the end everyone involved (and the viewer) senses that their most likely reward for the efforts will be a violent death. The film opens with a scene of Flame preparing to go to work, part of which is clearly to ensure he has a poison capsule at the ready, presumably to avoid being taken alive. This very dark backdrop reminded me of a similar feel present in the 1969 Army of Shadows about French resistance fighters - a new print was released to theaters sometime in the last few years.

It's not a fun film, but it is gripping at many points, well acted and an interesting view of a part of WW-II that I'd really never thought about before. I'd read this is one of the most expensive films made in Denmark. That money shows through in a positive sense in the backdrops, wardrobe and overall well done period look of the film. Perhaps most positively, Flame & Citron doesn't present a dumbed down sense of the world - as the film ended I realized I still had questions about who exactly had done what and why. But I suppose that's perhaps the most realistic aspect of it all...