Writer: Casey Lee

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Watch this if you liked: "Army of Shadows", "Kanal", "Defiance"

"This Life" opens with the traditional kitchen of a countryside Danish inn in 1942, where the innkeeper's family is busy making preparations for an unknown occasion. As we are introduced to each member of the family one by one, starting with Marius Fiil (Jens Jørn Spottag), the family's patriarch, his wife Gudrun (Bodil Jørgensen), their eldest daughter Tulle (Marie Bach Hansen) and husband Peter (Jesper Riefensthal), the Fiil's only son Niels (Thomas Ernst), and the two youngest girls, Gerda (Laura Winther Møller) and Bitten (Mia Ejlerskov), we learned that they are living in very uncertain times when Nazi Germany has just occupied the country.

When the prime minster of Denmark makes a renouncement against any acts of sabotage by its citizens against their oppressors, there is a simmering anger within Marius and his countrymen as they play their game of cards, but there is no outburst to ruin the mood of the celebration ahead for what would be the 25th wedding anniversary of Marius and Gudrun on that night, in the large company of friends from far and wide and family.

Amongst their guest, however, is a doctor and family friend, who approaches the Fiil elders for a private discussion and asks if they were interested in helping him and his 'youth organization' to secure a better future for Denmark.

While certainly a challenging subject matter to address for a feature debut, but for actress-turned-director Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis, "This Life" benefits mostly from the relatively obscure true story of the Hvidsten Group; a group of Danish men and women who risked their lives securing air dropped supplies from the British in the countryside of Jutland to be used in sabotage operations against the Nazis in Denmark, to tell a story of heart and loss. While the story of a real resistance group is surely an inspiring one that needs to be told, Riis doesn't comply on the heroics of these patriots, but rather grounds it on the human emotions and price. There is no glory here - only a story of hapless individuals risking danger fueled by hope and the fight for freedom.

This reenactment is as firm as the memorial that is erected in honour of them. Riis maintains a vigilant mood by having us attached to the characters which are carried admirably by the cast. There are barely any moments to let any single member of the growing resistance group shine, but as these once harmless villagers slowly gain confidence to their cause, there is a building sense of camaraderie among them which heightens the stakes that if one of them is lost, it is a large loss to the whole. While this implies there is a strong dose of melodrama, Riis softens the emotional punch with the lack of visceral violence from the occasionally shaky shots taken, and there is quite a leap in the flow of events that leaves a gap of their deeds.

Other than that though, the weight of this drama comes from just going with the flow, even if it was terribly disrupted by an unseemly 10 minute technical stoppage during the screening for this review. We witness and respect these brave men and women, along with their success and punishing failures, for their small but not forgotten efforts to liberate their country, and that is enough for this to be remembered by.


Cinema Online, 12 November 2013