Max Manus

Directed by: Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg

Starring: Aksel Hennie, Agnes Kittelsen, Ken Duken, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Victoria Winge

Synopsis:

Max Manus was a real-life wartime hero. After seeing combat and the horrors of what the Germans were capable of first-hand in Finland, Manus returned to his home country of Norway just as the nation fell to the Third Reich. Joining a band of amateur and naive patriots, he takes part in publishing an underground propaganda newsletter – but it isn’t long before his activities are noticed by the Gestapo and he is arrested. Following a daring escape, Manus travels to England where he is trained in the arts of sabotage and subterfuge. Returning to Oslo, Manus leads a small group of commandos on daring missions, but each day brings more danger and more risk of being discovered and captured.



Review:

Whilst Max Manus : Man of War covers similar ground to the biopic Flame and Citron, it is a less brutal portrayal and the emphasis is more on the derring do of the man and his missions than on his frailties. As a young man , Max Manus joined the Norwegian Volunteer Force, who went to aid Finland in bolstering their defences against the invading Germans. During this conflict, Manus single-handedly took out a German machine-gun nest, an event that was to haunt his dreams throughout the war. The film shows us this pivotal moment in his life in stages, slowly feeding us the full horror of the conflict.

Manus’ reputation was built on his daring escape from custody. Surrounded by Secret Police, Manus dived out of a third-storey window to evade capture. Although this act put him in hospital under armed guard, it did delay his proposed interrogation to allow he and his colleagues to plan and execute an escape.

There are a number of tense set-pieces as Manus and his men conduct their missions. Their first foray is a masterful scene, as the commandos sneak into the harbour at night on two-man canoes, darting between patrols and searchlights to plant limpet mines against the hulls of the German ships. The highpoint of Manus’ activities was the sinking of the SS Donau, a massive warship that guarded the port and was responsible for the shooting down of half of the RAF planes that conducted air raids.Like Flame and Citron, the sense of time and place is perfect and directors Ronning and Sandberg capture the atmosphere of Occupied Oslo – aswell as Scotland and Stockholm – with some stunning photography. The scenes in Scotland are particularly picturesque and idyllic.

The film also charts a number of interesting relationships – the closeness between Manus and Greggers Gram (Broch), and between Gestapo officer Lieutenant Fehmer (who was obsessed with capturing Manus) and his secretary, Solvieg (Winge). More importantly it charts the relationship between Manus and Tikken (Kittelsen). Tikken was Manus and Gram’s “handler”, based in Stockholm. She and Gram had been working together before Manus was introduced to her. In the film, they get off to a rather antagonistic start but soon develop feelings for one another and grow closer as the war continues.

Whilst at times Man of War feels like a “Boy’s Own” adventure (and there is nothing wrong with that), it does pause now and then to let the heroic facade of Manus slip and the viewer gets to see that the war is taking it’s toll on Manus’s nerves, will and sense of survivor’s guilt after so many of his comrades have fallen. This manifests itself most poignantly on the day Peace is declared: Manus, drunk and alone, is visted by the ghosts of his dead friends, who offer him a toast – one which he feels he doesn't deserve.

Verdict:

Fans of War movies owe it to themselves to track down this movie which opens up what to most of us is a hidden chapter of World War 2. Excellently acted, full of exciting set-pieces and the tale is never less than compelling.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)