Flame & Citron (2008)

Set in Denmark during WWII, Flame and Citron is about two operatives for the Danish resistance, who work under the codenames Flame and Citron (as in the fruit).

The film is an espionage thriller, with constantly twisting plot turns, but its focus is not (sadly) about the strange ambiguity of war (as its trailer seemed to imply it is), but instead focuses more on Flame's (Thure Lindhardt) attraction to Ketty (Stine Stengade), a woman member of the Danish resistance, as well as his fixation on killing the Danish Gestapo Chief, Karl Heinz Hoffman (played by Christian Berkel, an excellent character actor used as the bartender in Inglorious Basterds and far more effectively in Valkyrie and more still in Downfall).

Some time is allowed for Citron's much stronger and more interesting story, which involves his sacrifice of his relationship with his wife and daugther in order to continue his work in the resistance supporting Flame (who conducts most of the assassinations). Citron is excellently played by Mads Mikkelsen, whom you may have seen crying blood as Le Chiffre, the primary villain (for the first half, at least) in "Casino Royale" (2006). Citron is a drunk, a poor husband and father, but by God, he's at least human, placed under the unimaginable stress of his job thwarting the Nazi occupation.

The film, while not being a very great meditation on whether the characters are actually the force for good they want to believe themselves to be due to their violent actions (and yet, it comes so close only to shrug it off. Oh, for might-have-beens!), is an excellent dissection of the pressures the men undergo. They go to Stockholm a great deal to talk to the Danish government-in-exile, which often begs them to stop their violent crusade, in order for diplomatic solutions to take effect. Of course, our heroes meet this with witty reparte, and then slaughter some German official.

Indeed, every time the film comes close to confronting the main characters with the horror of their actions, to the point where you think they must take some action to prove their virtue, Flame shrugs it off and Citron drains a glass of scotch. And that's it. There's a very memorable sequence where they riddle a car full of bullets only to find it is not Hoffman, but instead some other officer, and his little boy, who is gutshot. For the life of me, I can't remember what happens when Citron tells Flame that the kid has been killed, but don't worry if I ruined a scene for you, because after that talk, that's the last you'll ever hear about him.

For me, this was a disappointing film that aspired to heights it did not reach, but if you manage to avoid the trailer and approach it with an open mind, you should do fine. If you like period spy thrillers, you should check this out, if you don't mind subtitles (I actually like them). It's not Casino Royale or Bourne, but it's still a decent flick.

Directed by Ole Christian Madsen, Written by Madsen and Lars K. Andersen, Starring Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen, Peter Mygind, Stine Stengade, and Christian Berkel