Flame & Citron (2008)

Danish screenwriter and director Ole Christian Madsen's fifth feature film which he co-wrote with screenwriter Lars K. Andersen, is based on real events. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, in the Shows section at the 35th Telluride Film Festival in 2008 and is a Denmark-Germany-Norway-Czech Republic-Sweden co-production which was shot on location in Denmark, Czech Republic and Germany and produced by producer Lars Bredo Rahbek. It tells the story about a 23-year-old man named Bent aka "Flammen" who lives with a married couple and a 33-year-old man named Jørgen aka "Citronen" who lives with his wife Bodil and their daughter Anne in Copenhagen, who carries out illegal operations for a police attorney named Aksel Winther.Distinctly and engagingly directed by Danish filmmaker Ole Christian Madsen, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated by and mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a moving portrayal of two members of the Danish resistance movement and their dedicated fight against Danish informants and Nazis. While notable for its naturalistic milieu depictions, sterling production design by Danish production designer Jette Lehmann, cinematography by Danish cinematographer Jørgen Johansson, costume design by Danish costume designer Manon Rasmussen, fine make-up by make-up artists Sabine Schumann and Jens Bartram and use of sound, this character-driven, narrative-driven and historic story depicts some dense studies of character and contains a good score by Danish composer Karsten Fundal.This somewhat romantic and somewhat biographical neo-noir which is set during World War II and the German occupation of Denmark in the mid-1940s, centers on some of the many sabotage operations that was executed by two of the most prominent resistance fighters in the Holger Danske group and is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, subtle character development, mysterious characters and the brilliant acting performances by Danish actors Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen and Danish actress Stine Stengade. A consistently involving and memorable narrative feature which gained, among several other awards, the Bodil Award by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics for Best Cinematography Jørgen Johansson at the 62nd Bodil Awards in 2009.

Presumably this was the big one for the Danish, a multi-million dollar production about their own WWII Resistance heroes, so it's possible to forgive the plaudits it gained at home - much in the same way that awful Pearl Harbour film garnered 4 Oscar nominations in America. Sadly, the faint praise for having made the film at all is about as far as I can go, because this is a long, drawn out disappointment.The are many, many problems, the acting and direction constantly clash, as if both searching for one another, hoping to find a narrative harmony that they never actually achieve. If we're watching a cerebral brooding affair, do we really need to see so much brow-sweat and half-shadow? We already know they were stressful times without it being quite so underlined in endless reams of perspiration and artificial unkemptness. This unfortunate disunion isn't helped by wholly one-dimensional and oppressive characterisations. There's no camaraderie, no gallows humour, no attempt show any intellectual bonding, never mind the enemy, comrade sulks at comrade.But the crucial weaknesses are in the incoherence of the double-triple- crossing script, and the unexamined motivations of Flame and Citron to continue killing regardless of the revelations about the intents of their handlers. Rather than heroes who fought through the duplicity and shadiness of war-time collaborators, we are served with what could have been a couple naive tantrum-teens, who apparently believe whatever was the last thing they were told irrespective of anything else and throw one big strop after another when they discover they were lied to yet again.Now I don't know the real story behind the two obviously brave men, but such a portrayal seems like a disservice.

The first thing I noticed when watching Flame and Citron was the directing, more precisely the camera angels, and acting. The main character, Flame (played by Thure Lindhardt), looked awesome in almost every shot and his partner Citron (Mads Mikkelsen) did an amazing job acting as well. This movie has a lot of good life lessons, and moral warnings.I liked the fact that it was based on true events. This makes it possible to look at the movie from a more realistic point of view. Flame and Citron encourages one to question life and reason in general from a realistic view rather than question the movie it's self. This all in accordance with war time events of course, and resistance fighters.I looked into the history behind the movie and it's neat to know that they have statues built in Denmark to commemorate these brave underground soldiers.

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?