By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen | Stine Stengade | Thure Lindhardt
Original language title: Flammen & Citronen
Country: czech_republic, denmark, germany
Year: 2009
Running time: 130
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0920458/
Beth Curran says: “Set in Denmark during its WWII occupation, the film tells the story of two famous Danish resistance fighters, Flame and Citron, and tells it with eyes open and no holds barred, which has made it quite a controversial film at home, according to the director. The two leads, Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen are compelling, and the film conveys well the mood of paranoia, conspiracy and hidden brotherhood in a city and country that both protected and threatened these men. Unfortunately, the plot itself was more labyrinthine than it needed to be, and as the end neared, the good job of character buildup that had been done was itself betrayed by obvious twists and inexplicable choices, particularly by Flame. I wasn’t able to stay for the Q&A to find out how much of the film was based on true events – however I imagine that doing a first biopic about two legendary war heroes would make it difficult to change those ‘stranger than fiction’ events. 3 1/2 cats”