Flammen & Citronen (Flame & Citron)

Not very often I decide to watch a WWII movie knowing that the story is a war story, but after reading about this movie it called my attention and I decided to give it a try especially because it seemed like not your regular WWII movie and to my surprise I was totally right as even when starts like a regular movie developing the main characters, perhaps after half of the movie becomes so confusing that you do not know what’s really going on which really becomes very exciting, entertaining and totally attention grabber.

Some mention that this Ole Christian Madsen movie is structured as a thriller and I tend to agree as from the moment the Ketty Selmer character appears what follows is truly thrilling; but the basic story is about a pair of real life special operations (killers) Danish resistance fighters -that seem are like folk heroes in Denmark- one called Flame because was red haired and Citronen (Lemon) because he worked at the Citroën according to what I read. The duo worked as team taking orders and coldly, effectively, eliminating their targets. All these are real life facts and as the movie begins you start to see exactly what the last description says but eventually there is a moment when they (and us viewers) don’t know who to trust and as they descend into their own paranoia we will follow them into all the deceiving, twists and well, unexpected end as I honestly had no idea of how the movie was going to end.

As a movie has great production values and according to what I read is the highest Danish production ever and really looks great with excellent recreation of the period and lots of attention to details. Performances are superb especially by the two leads that some will remember Mads Mikkelsen (Citronen) as he played La Chiffre in Casino Royale, and some of my known blog readers perhaps will recognize Thure Lindhardt (Flammen) that played Dimitri in a few episodes of the second season of Sugar Rush. What really matters is that the chemistry between the two leads is truly fantastic to watch and without really noticing you will be engaged in the story thanks to these two great characters and the excellent actors performances.

The movie has been around the festival circuit since the 2008 Toronto Film Festival and Mads Mikkelsen and Thure Lindhardt are both nominated for Best Actor at the 2008 European Film Academy Awards, they truly deserve the nominations but I wonder if any will win as that category according to me has already a winner: Toni Servillo!

Anyway the movie is suited for general audiences that enjoy well done thrilling and entertaining European dramas based on true events. Then even do is set in WWII this is not your regular war movie; so if you do not enjoy the war genre (like me) perhaps you should consider giving this movie a try as even if it has some violent killings, the movie and the story are truly compelling.

Enjoy!!