"Kongens nei" - brilliant WW2 movie about King Haakon VII

[Превед]

The Norwegian movie "Kongens nei" = The King's No, recently premiered and I've just watched it. It's about the events of the 9th, 10th and 11th April 1940, the German invasion of Norway, the flight of monarch, government and parliament under German bombardment and the negociations about whether to offer futile resistance, leading to Norwegians being killed or settle for a good deal with the Germans. Haakon VII is faced with an Ibsenesque choice between tragic, principled heroïsm or sensible, placid mediocracy and the movie tells the story extremely well, with all the details as correct as possible, including 1/3 of the movie's dialogues being in German and King Haakon VII himself played by a Danish-speaking actor. Thanks to the movie using royal biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen as an advisor. The differences both in the Norwegian and German camps are fully showcased, making it a balanced, yet gripping tale of heroism, far removed from the insipid revisionism of for example "The King' Speech". Let's hope it also gets an internation release. In the meantime - here is the international trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Eq3byyGB0

[Cathy]

Thanks for letting us know about this newly released film. The subject matter is so important. I do hope there is an international release; I would love to see it. I hope it is released later as an all-region DVD so I can view it.

One of my family was with HM King Haakon during those days. He left on a separate ship and then met with the King when he arrived in London and at Buckingham Palace. There have been books both in English and Norwegian on him.

Cathy

[Превед]

Since this thread already is about Norwegian royals on film, I thought I might add a link to a two-part NRK (Norwegian National Broadcasting) documentary about Queen Maud's 44 photo albums and below Crown Princess Märtha's WW2 wartime exile in the US:
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/kongelige-fotografer/MDDP13001115/sesong-1/episode-1

I hope they can be viewed from abroad too and not just from Norway. I watched the part about Queen Maud and it is a kind of treasure hunt with a palace conservator, a photo archivist and royal biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen hunting for the furniture and sites in Queen Maud's photos, in Britain, Denmark and Norway. Most of the facts (presented in Norwegian) are well-known and the best photos have already been published, but it's interesting to see them in context and a little behind the scenes at the sites they were taken.

I didn't know that the sunken garden in the park of Bygdø Royal Manor in Oslo, laid out by Queen Maud in 1919, was dedicated to victims of WW1. Probably first and foremost Norwegian ones (Norway was neutral, but many sailors lost their lives, being torpedoed), but who knows, Queen Maud may have thought about her murdered Russian cousins, some of whom came to visit her at Bygdø in the golden summers before 1914, as collateral damage of WW1 too. Anyway it's shown from minute 39:00 and onwards.

[Kalafrana]

This sounds very interesting.

Any prospect of subtitles in English?

Ann

[Превед]

Any prospect of subtitles in English?

No, don't think so.
Anyways we are told that the young crowd will soon flock to Norwegian classes like bees to the honey pot, what with the craze for NRK-produced "Skam" (Norwegian version of "Skins") just getting bigger and bigger. :-) http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/33790/1/the-risque-norwegian-tv-series-causing-teen-hysteria :-)
(I love the series, but the youngsters speak so indistinctly that I, a Norwegian, sometimes wish for subtitles!)