Flame & Citron

Set after the Nazi invasion of Denmark, the film focuses on the Holger Danske resistance group's Bent Faurschou Hviid (known as Flammen) and Jørgen Haagen Schmith (known as Citronen). In a bar, Bent flirts with a woman, who identifies herself as Ketty Selmer and disturbs him by saying his real name. Bent follows and confronts her, whereupon she says she is a courier running messages between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Aksel Winther, Bent and Jørgen's handler, asks them to kill Elisabeth Lorentzen, Horst Gilbert, and Hermann Seibold–members of the Abwehr, German military intelligence. Bent and Jørgen argue over it as they kill only Danes, to reduce the chance of Nazi retaliation. Winther claims to be acting on orders from the government in exile. Bent kills Lorentzen but fails to kill Gilbert and Seibold. Jørgen, his wife, Bodil and their daughter, Ann, celebrate Ann's birthday in their car as they lack money, and Bodil laments over their relationship. Later, Bent, Jørgen and Winther meet Spex from the Danish Army Intelligence. He says there will be no more attacks, as they need peace for a big attack. They agree not to follow Spex's order and Jørgen kills Gilbert. That night, Jørgen robs a grocery store and takes the products to his family; however, Bodil announces she is seeing another man. After several members of the resistance are killed by the Gestapo, Winther suspects they have an informant. Later, Bent visits Ketty's hotel and they have sex. Jørgen visits his wife and advises her boyfriend to treat her properly or he will return. In a meeting, Winther says the informer is Ketty and orders her death. Bent meets Ketty; she tells him she works for Winther and for army intelligence and that Winther does not work for the British. Winther, involved with Gilbert and Seibold, had ordered their death not to be seen as a traitor. Bent and Jørgen search for Winther in a bar and discover that he has escaped to Stockholm. They realize it is a trap, and escape from the Gestapo. They decide to kill Karl Heinz Hoffmann, the Gestapo leader and then take over the Gestapo's favorite restaurant. Bent abandons his plan when he sees approaching police. That night, Ketty says to Bent that he and Jørgen should go to Stockholm. In the meeting, they are offered positions in the Danish Army but refuse. A man called Ravnen gives them the name of the real informer and Jørgen kills him. Bent visits his father, a hotel owner, who says Hoffmann, his family and his mistresses visit there on occasion. Bent sees Ketty arrive at the hotel with Hoffman in what appears to be a tryst. Later, Bent confronts Ketty and she says army intelligence requested her to stay close to Hoffmann. Bent asks what car Hoffman uses and what his route is. Later, on the road, Bent, Jørgen and others open fire on two cars with Nazi flags but are dismayed to discover they have killed a father and wounded a child. An enraged Bent goes to Ketty's hotel room, only to discover that she has flown to Stockholm, fearing Hoffmann's retaliation. Bent and Jørgen again plan to kill Hoffmann and disguise themselves as policemen. They are arrested in a general round-up of and execution of the German-allied Danish police. Jørgen leaps a fence and is shot, allowing Bent to escape. Jørgen flees to a safe house but, when a German squad arrives, he kills some with a sub-machine gun and grenades but is killed. Bent, in his home, commits suicide with a cyanide pill when the Gestapo arrives. Later, Hoffmann gives Ketty the reward for helping apprehend Bent and a letter from him found in his room, in which he expresses his feelings and his doubt of her betrayal. The film ends with notes about Bent and Jørgen's legacy. ==Cast==

• Thure Lindhardt as Bent Faurschou Hviid / Flammen • Mads Mikkelsen as Jørgen Haagen Schmith / Citronen • Stine Stengade as Ketty Selmer • Peter Mygind as Aksel Winther • Mille Lehfeldt as Bodil • Christian Berkel as Karl Heinz Hoffmann • Hanns Zischler as Horst Gilbert • Flemming Enevold as Spex • Lars Mikkelsen as Frode Jacobsen / Ravnen • Jesper Christensen as Flammen's father ==Production==

Development Director Ole Christian Madsen had read the book They Saw It Happen about the anti-Nazi Resistance when he was 12. He was especially attracted by the story of the pair because of their moral ambiguity. Madsen stated, "They both fascinated and scared me, and I sensed there was something dark and untold in their story." By discussing it, Madsen hoped not to talk about only past but the present since he thinks that "to understand what happens in the world's focal points today goes through history" and that "The story of two illegal rebels is an eternally useful story even if it is played out in 1944". In 2005, however, German films about World War II started to become popular, and several German companies became interested in the idea for the film. It became a co-production between Denmark and Germany, with three companies—Nimbus Film, Wüste Film and Babelsberg Studio—producing it. By October 2006, it had already got 75% of its then 45 million Danish kroner (or $7.6 million) budget from the Danish Film Institute, Danish TV 2, and other financiers in Norway, Sweden and Germany. Filming started March 2007 and lasted until May 2007; and it also took place at the Babelsberg locations in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany. It received a €342,000 ($460,000) grant from the This finding "forced me to make the film a much more stylish, more noirish piece of work." The casting process "wasn't really difficult, because I didn't feel that so many people could play these parts", Madsen stated. Mark Jenkins of NPR said it had a "classic look" both in visuals and in storytelling; visually, "with widescreen compositions, overhead shots and dramatic contrasts of light and dark", and in its narrative "[s]ome sequences are quick and messy, but others are grand and theatrical." Joe Morgenstern, critic for The Wall Street Journal, said the "pace is deliberate, [and] the tone is pensive, albeit punctuated by occasional violence." Erica Abeel of The Hollywood Reporter said, "In its tough-mindedness Flame [& Citron] owes much to Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows." ==Themes==

In the film Madsen tried to challenge the idea of war as "black and white" and the idea that the resistance was "a cohesive whole". Marshall Fine of The Huffington Post asserted that the violence in the film is double-edged: "[it] takes its toll on the perpetrator as well as the victim." Similarly, The Irish Timess Derek Scally stated the film analyses "the dehumanising effect of assassinations on assassin". Madsen tried to explore this "moral dilemma", "the drama behind the story of the 'illegals'" and human psychology in crisis situations. Madsen ultimately defined his film "as an investigation of what happens psychologically to someone who sacrifices himself in war". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described the story as "a psychologically complex look at what heroism does to heroes. The actions these men take tear at their lives, their families, their very essence." Turan even said it is "more nihilistic than idealistic", Its depiction of the resistance in a non-heroic way made it a "one-off film" in Danish cinema, according to film historian Lars-Martin Sørensen. Another theme the film deals with is the bureaucracy in the resistance, according to Ty Burr of Boston Globe, as the main pair would prefer to work as freelancers. Writing for The Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan said the film also has "a surprisingly contemporary subtext, as when Hoffmann, in an abortive showdown with Flame, calls his would-be assassin a well-intentioned, but ultimately misguided, terrorist. 'Don't you realize,' Hoffmann asks, 'you're just a tool for someone with less pure motives?'" Burr also commented that "The film repeatedly poses that question ["Who's being set up here?"] and pointedly refuses to answer. By its silence, it suggests that in wartime everyone can be both user and used." Abeel argued that "For beneath his stony exterior, it's Flame's romantic soul that will prove his worst enemy. This masterful film is at once a portrait of wartime heroism and a poignant journey into a boy's secret heart." ==Release==

Flame & Citron debuted in Danish theaters on 28 March 2008 and premiered on 28 August 2008 in Germany. The film was seen by over 770,000 people in Europe; It grossed $9,210,518 in Denmark for a total of $10,186,084 from screenings in twelve other countries—Argentina, Austria, Colombia, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Flame & Citron was domestically distributed by Sandrew Metronome in Denmark; it was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 30 September 2008. The film was distributed by Metrodome in the United Kingdom, who released it on DVD on 1 January 2009, theatrically on 6 March 2009, In the United States, IFC Films licensed the film, and its North American debut occurred at the Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2008. IFC released it on demand on 29 July 2009, while its theatrical release was on 31 July 2009, ==Critical reception==

Domestic reviews Critical response to the film was mixed but mostly positive in Denmark, including praise for Madsen's direction, the performances of Lindhardt, Mikkelsen, Stengade and Mygind; The film "has shocked Danish audiences" for its portrayal of the protagonists as non-heroic, and has been criticised by historians. Berlingskes Ebbe Iversen commented that it can be both good and bad to have morally ambiguous characters as it can be seen as "an artistic force" to have "authentic protagonists psychology", but it can also be frustrating to have their motives portrayed as "enigmatic". The critic stated it did not make it a bad film, instead "its subtle, not uncritical portrayal of the resistance seems sober and serious, the style is worked out to the smallest detail, and in its outer form the film is the type of work that you unkindly call conventional and more kindly describe as classic." Kim Skotte of Politiken said it had more gunfire than psychology and that it lacked a more detailed explanation of the characters' backgrounds that would justify their personalities. Writing for Jyllands-Posten, Johs. H. Christensen wrote that there "never occurs any real connection, no excitement, no interaction, no common destiny between Flame and Citron, although they are inextricably linked most of the time". DR's Per Juul Carlsen declared on '''' that although the film is visually beautiful, he is not sure it should be this way: "Had it not been better and more correct to tell the story really ugly and blurry in the rain instead of sunshine ... with realism instead of polished exquisiteness[?]". He also criticized it for sharing too much of the American gangster and spy film clichés. International reviews The film was generally well received by Western critics. Based on 70 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, it has an overall approval rating of 86 percent from critics and an average score of 6.8 out of 10. According to the website's consensus, the film, "though lengthy and sprawling, is gripping and competently made". SFGates Walter stated, "[t]hough the material might lend itself to heavy-handedness, director Ole Christian Madsen is steady, and he gets fine performances from the two leads and [Stine] Stengade." Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle commented that "Mikkelsen and Lindhardt are spectacularly invested in their roles. ... Beyond that is a drop-dead gorgeous period noir, rife with paranoia, femmes fatales, and good men inexorably sinking into the bloody mire and opaque texture of life (and death) during wartime." Abeel praised how, by "[a]voiding the docu-style string of anecdotes of many fact-based films, it offers the shapeliness and irony of classic drama". Fuchs applauded the interpolation of emotional relations as they "help to make Flame & Citrons taut action even more effective. Beautifully choreographed and filmed in deep shadows that cut the violence into shadowy, brutal fragments, Flame and Citron's jobs are at once thrilling and disconcerting". Nick de Semlyen from Empire considered it an average film, saying "It's familiar ground for anyone who's seen Black Book or Sophie Scholl, but director Ole Christian Madsen steers a skilful course, keeping things grim but not to an off-putting extent, bringing a David Lynch-esque vibe to Flame's hotel dalliances with a shady lady and pulling off an incredible death scene for one of the leads." Noel Murray of The A.V. Club criticized it for "hammer[ing] too hard on the shopworn theme of how war sickens souls. Far more interesting is Flame & Citrons other theme: the idea that war turns the notion of 'shades of gray' into a luxury". V. A. Musetto, for the New York Post, commented that, although it "features well-choreographed shootouts and assassinations", its "script is too melodramatic and complicated for its own good". Burr mostly praised it but said that "Madsen eventually loses his way", stating that there was "not enough" information about Citron and that the film "feels packed with events and frustratingly unfocused". , a 2006 Dutch film by Paul Verhoeven (pictured''). Although he praised the "beautifully choreographed and shot" action sequences, Murray criticized Flame & Citron for "lean[ing] toward the handsome and thoughtful when it could stand to be a lot dirtier and more visceral", citing Black Book as a "superb counter-example". O'Sullivan said that "Inglourious Basterds-style wish fulfillment this isn't," Art-house film status Usually described as a drama or a thriller, it has also been described as an art-house film. Lodge stated it has "stately middle-arthouse stylings and thriller overtones". Nick Roddick of the London Evening Standard commented that "it could succumb to the Sod's Law of foreign-language cinema: make movie too commercial and you risk losing both audiences." Abeel opined, "This icy portrait of two assassins shooting Nazis point-blank offers no Hollywood-style uplift to mollify mainstream viewers. But Flame [& Citron] should pull in a niche group of World War II connoisseurs and will delight art-house and fest audiences with its innovative mix of drama and history filtered through genre." Awards and nominations The film was nominated for fourteen Robert Awards, winning Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Effects. Out of three Bodil Awards nominations, Flame & Citron won Best Cinematography. At the Zulu Awards, it won all three awards for which it was nominated. The film was also nominated for the European Film Awards, Marrakech International Film Festival, and Valladolid International Film Festival, but did not win any award. ==Historical accuracy==

The involvement of the Danish people with the Nazis and the assassinations committed by the resistance movement had been a taboo subject since World War II, with scholarly literature on the topic only being produced from the 1980s and 1990s. Nonetheless, the film has sparked controversy among historians. According to The Irish Times, "Flame & Citron has sparked an emotive public debate in Denmark that has drawn all sorts of pseudo-experts out of the woodwork to debate the portrayal of the period and the two true-life figures". Madsen defended himself saying it was an interpretation that "though it may not correspond absolutely to reality, is somehow more true". Mikkelsen stressed that they were the first "to do the original research, yet we suddenly had a lot of so-called experts telling us how it really was and how we were wrong". The actor affirmed not too much is known about the period and they hope it sparks the debate so "people will research and think some more about it". In the book Historicizing the Uses of the Past, edited by Helle Bjerg, Claudia Lenz and Erik Thorstensen, the authors compared the criticism Flame & Citron received for its historical representation to that received by Max Manus: Man of War, a Norwegian film about the Norwegian resistance movement. While Madsen's film has been highly criticized by historians, Max Manus gained the status of "real past" and received only a few criticisms that were dismissed by resistance veterans, politicians and even the king Harald V. Bjerg et al. argued that the difference in reception may be attributed to the films' content, saying, "In stark contrast to Flame & Citron, [Max Manus] doesn't challenge the notions of the right and the wrong side and the unambiguous good cause." ==Notes==