Flame & Citron, directed by former Dogme 95 auteur Ole Christian Madsen, walks a thin line between ass-kicking assassin movie and dense WWII period drama. The film recounts the true story of Bent and Jørgen, code names Flame and Citron, as they cruise around occupied Copenhagen offing Danish Nazis and German officers. In addition to action flick and period drama, the film also features a healthy dose of noir. The spare lighting and superb camera work showcase solid performances.
The film opens with several scenes of Bent and Jørgen carrying out their grim duty, knocking on doors, killing their mark, moving on, all overlaid with voice-over by Bent, which is both informative and moving. The plot steadily thickens, scene by scene, as more characters, each with their own motivations, begin to play a role. The ballooning cast of players is too much to keep track of in a first viewing, but this may well be the point. As the sabotage and double-crossing mounts, we’re forced to trust that Bent and Jørgen are doing the right thing, even if it’s confusing and ugly.
Thure Lindhardt as Bent and Mads Mikkelsen as Jørgen both give excellent performances. Lindhardt’s Bent is brash and young. Idealistic and a bit naive, he wears a blank expression on his face that hints at the irrevocable callousness that comes with being able to take a life with such apparent ease. Mikkelsen’s Jørgen, on the other hand, is a nervous wreck when it comes time to kill. A middle-aged family man, his activities in the resistance have torn apart his family. In his cool moments, he looks like a murderous Gregory Peck.
There have been plenty of films dramatizing what happened on the front lines of World War II, most of which build conflict within the ranks of a group of soldiers, locked in a battle of wills about how a war should be fought. Flame & Citron uses this device as well, indeed these are soldiers, even if they wear suits and fedoras. But where Flame & Citron is unique amongst war movies is that it’s really not clear who is on whose team. During the Allied invasion of France, the two sides where unmistakable, but in an occupied country like Denmark, the fighters did not have the luxury of clarity. Some Danes welcomed the Germans, while others merely tolerated them. Still others, such as our heroes in the film, went about killing as many Danish sympathizers as possible, hoping their information was reliable.
Flame & Citron rises above most war and action films because the morality of the killings becomes increasingly suspect. Bent enters a relationship with a woman who may be an ally, an enemy, or both. The channels through which they get their targets begin to become compromised. Other times, they simply make mistakes, killing the wrong person. The emotional intensity that goes along with having the moral conviction to kill for your country, only to find out you may have killed an innocent person or even an ally, is handled well by Madsen and his actors. One notable scene shows Bent and Jørgen in their car, contemplating the possibility they’ve made a mistake. Jørgen screams, “We have never killed innocent people!” while the opposite seems quite likely to be true.
With all the intrigue and heavy drama, Flame & Citron never looses the action sensibility that kicks the film off so well. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s worth noting that the ending does not disappoint in terms of fire power and thrilling heroics. There’s much to love about Flame & Citron.
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