Flame and Citron

Flame and Citron (2008) is Denmark's entry in the burgeoning World War II Resistance genre. Like its peers (Black Book, Army of Crime) Flame is packed with graphic violence, double-crosses and moral ambiguity. If not the best of its kind, it's certainly entertaining.

In 1943 Denmark, the Holger Danske resistance group targets Nazi occupiers and their collaborators. Bent Faurschou-Hild, aka Flame (Thure Lindhard) is a trigger-happy fanatic, while Jorgen Haagen Schmith - Citron (Mads Mikkelsen) is a neurotic man with a haunted past. The two have no qualms killing Nazi collaborators, but things grow complicated when Flame falls for Ketty (Stine Stengade), who claims to be a fellow Resistance fighter. Flame discovers that his boss Winther (Peter Mygind) may be playing a dangerous double-game, selling out his colleagues to Gestapo chief Hoffman (Christian Berkel) - and having Flame and Citron clean up his mess.

Flame and Citron provides an extremely jaundice view of wartime heroics. Unlike Army of Crime, which glorifies its insurgent heroes (they'd *never* murder civilians!), Flame shows the Danish partisans dispatching victims without sentimentality. The Resistance leaders' incessant infighting makes Hoffman's Gestapo look genial. It's never clear who's betraying who, with Ketty, Winther and Hoffman working personal agendas. The double-dealing makes Flame's patriotism a bitter joke: the idea that he's dispatching innocents to cover his boss's tracks is disturbing. We sympathize with Flame's father (Jesper Christensen), a hotelier who quietly sits things out.

Flame stumbles a bit on the character front. Flame's willingness to allow victims to explain themselves becomes increasingly frustrating, even if it helps unspool the plot. Less functional are Citron's marital troubles, which serve a character purpose but distract from the story. But Ole Christian Madsen's direction sells the drama, providing grim photography and well-scaled shootouts that overcome its dramatic missteps.

Thure Lindhart's intense performance makes his flawed character believable. Even better is Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale), whose wonderfully grave, stubbled face speaks volumes about a painful past. Stine Stengade handles her femme fatale role well, and Christian Berkel (Valkyrie) adds another odious Nazi to his resume. Hanns Zischler (Munich) gets an intriguing character, a semi-retired German colonel of inscrutable allegiance.

Flame and Citron doesn't get points for originality in its subgenre. Even so, it's a compelling film with a dolorous moral subtext.