They were celebrated members of the Danish Occupation Resistance. But were "the Flame" (Thure Lindhardt) and "Citron" (Mads Mikkelsen) — who conducted an underground campaign to execute Nazi sympathizers and traitors — terrorists or freedom fighters? This moral ambiguity drives Ole Christian Madsen's based-on-true-events film in which something is rotten in the state of Denmark, where informants and the innocent mingle side by side. As the fatalistic Citron says, "There is no justice or injustice. Just war." The pair's clandestine lifestyle begins to take a toll on both men's personal lives — Citron struggles to support his family while the Flame strives to trust Ketty (Stine Stengade), a beguilingly beautiful courier. As the duo close in on Hoffman (Christian Berkel), the head of the Gestapo, self-doubt looms over them as the Nazi plays on their greatest fear of being used as pawns. Though the film's voice-over narration borders on heavy-handed, Lindhardt and Mikkelsen's vulnerable and intensely visceral performances set Flame and Citron apart from some of the more gratuitous and emotionally exploitative Nazi films released this year. (Liesl Swanbeck)
Opens at Landmark Theatres on Wednesday, August 19th
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