Max Manus

Co-directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, Max Manus is based on the true story of Norwegian resistance fighter Max Manus. In the spring of 1940, after fighting as a volunteer in the Finnish-Russian Winter War, Max (Aksel Hennie) returns home to a Norway occupied by Germans where he swiftly joins the resistance movement.

However, Max’s reckless nature soon brings him to the attention of the Nazis and, after a daring escape, he ends up in Scotland, where he undergoes extensive training before returning to Norway in 1943. Together with his friends Gregers Gram (Nicolai Cleve Broch), Gunnar Sonsteby (Knut Joner) and Kolbein Lauring (Christian Rubeck), Max carries out a number of spectacular sabotage attacks against the German forces, but Gestapo investigator Siegfried Fehmer (Ken Duken) is on his trail and determined to bring him down.

Rønning and Sandberg orchestrate several exciting and suspenseful action sequences, even if the budget didn’t quite stretch to impressive explosions – the way the film gets round this is inventive, but yields mixed results. In addition, the sharply written script is careful to illustrate the all too real emotional toll exerted by Max’s actions; he’s a fearless, almost James Bond-like fighter, but each time he loses a friend, it costs him deeply.

In short, Max Manus is an impressively directed, sharply written and well acted war thriller that’s exciting, suspenseful and emotionally engaging. Highly recommended.

– Matthew Turner, ViewLondon