What nobody knows

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Movie
German title What nobody knows
Original title Det som ingen ved
Country of production Denmark , Sweden
original language Danish , Swedish
Publishing year 2008
length 95 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
script Søren Kragh-Jacobsen
Rasmus Heisterberg
production Lars Bredo Rahbek
music Kaare Bjerkø
Anders Trentemøller
camera Morten Søborg
cut Anne Østerud
Janus Billeskov Jansen
occupation

What nobody knows is a Danish political thriller from 2008.

action

In Nordsjælland in 1988, the journalist Amelie, her friend Liv and a friend in the summer house of the Deleurans to top secret documents about illegal strike weapons of mass destruction to discuss and their illegal transportation. They are aware of the dangerous situation they find themselves in and are still helpless in the fire that breaks out at night, kills Liv, seriously injures Amelie and destroys most of the documents.

About 20 years later, Liv's lover Thomas Deleuran is a divorced petty artist who makes just enough money to keep his family afloat. His sister Charlotte is organizing another exhibition, this time in Malmö , Sweden , to which she also invites Thomas. On the way there, he receives the message that Charlotte has disappeared while swimming that night. A short time later, the actually excellent swimmer is found dead. When he is then in her apartment, he discovers several documents, including a lot of newspaper articles about the amalgamation of the secret services and the surveillance state, as well as information about biological weapons of mass destruction. That is why Thomas meets Nils Lange-Erichsen, a former friend of his father's from the Danish secret service Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste , in the fort in Copenhagen and talks to him about the biological warfare agent ADX 402, which can trigger the deadly tetanus infection with the help of Clostridium tetani . After Thomas showed him a few photos, Thomas showed himself unsuspecting and merely referred to the time he spent with his father during some weapon tests at Thule Air Base in Greenland.

Although it looks like Marc hasn't found anything, his apartment is broken into and Charlotte's important documents are burned. He also feels persecuted and receives calls with recordings of his voice. Although Thomas is scared, he looks for Ursula, Charlotte's lover, who helps him find the former secret service agent Hemmingsen. He had himself taken to a home for camouflage and later reports to Thomas what he came across. He explains that he himself, Thomas' father and Lange-Erichsen belong to a secret underground organization called the Tyrfing Group , which was once funded by the CIA during the Cold War to lead covert operations. The group was named after the mystical sword Tyrfing . It is still active and is currently pushing the merger of the Danish secret services under the leadership of Lange-Erichsen.

Thomas wants to make all of this available to the press and contacts Claus Jensen from Politiken . But since Thomas has been monitored the whole time, the Tyrfing group knows about it and sets a trap for him with a fake Claus Jensen, from which he can barely escape. After a minor attack on his daughter and open threats, his daughter is kidnapped. Provided that he delivers his evidence to Lange-Erichsen, he can have it back. But Thomas doesn't give in and wants to meet Ursula, who he finds hanged. So he looks for the withdrawn Amelie, who refuses to testify for him and is then also killed by the Tyrfing group.

Thomas returns home to find out that his daughter is with his mother. When he drove there, Lange-Erichsen's people expected him and arrested him. They play him a video of his father and make it clear to him that he can go on living in peace as long as he is silent, since he no longer has any evidence against them. Thomas agrees to this proposal, hugs his daughter and believes he has escaped surveillance, but he is still being monitored.

criticism

A precise broad overview of the opinion of professional criticism cannot be made based on the insufficient number of reviews. However, by means of some film rating portals, on which users can cast their votes for certain films, a statement can be made about the reaction of the general public. Rotten Tomatoes recorded that 59% of 402 users rated the film positively. This in turn is confirmed by 1010 visitors to the online film archive IMDb , who gave the film an average of 6.2 out of 10 possible points. (As of February 21, 2015)

The lexicon of international films calls the film a "breathlessly staged political thriller that summarizes the rampant fear of all-encompassing surveillance in an oppressive visual language."

Russell Edwards praised the technology in the US trade journal Variety , including the cameraman Morten Søborg , the music by Anders Trentemøller and the direction by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen , who could lead the "entertainment value of the story to the end with his emotional involvement". However, he also criticized the script, because if it was still conclusive at the beginning, it would be "clumsy and no longer able to manage its details."

The German television magazine Prisma saw the “political thriller with a threatening atmosphere” as a film that “showed dark conspiracy theories [indulge] and the dangers of a surveillance state in dark pictures”. She also praised the "courageous acting ensemble of actors, from which Anders W. Berthelsen should be particularly emphasized".

In the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet , Jan Söderqvist summed up that the film had so many storylines that he didn't even notice the most important ones. He also compared the film formally with The Bourne Identity and said that the content of the film seems, however, as if the Danish writer Peter Høeg had "had a very bad day".

The Danish film website cinemazone.dk praised the “energetic and intense cuts” by the film editor Anne Østerud , the visual style of the cameraman and the soundtrack by Trentemøller. She also praised the social criticism of the Danish government's excessive surveillance efforts. However, she also criticized the script's “lack of internal logic”.

Jesper Hintze Vildbrad praised on on-z.dk , another Danish film site, in particular the acting performances of Henning Jensen , who "leaves his unsympathetic figure a bitter aftertaste through his sarcasm", and Ghita Nørby , who "through her great aura and deep facial expressions a believable and mysterious mother “play. However, he also criticized the director Kragh-Jacobsen, who did not manage to portray the serious threat credibly.

background

  • Kragh-Jacobsen was inspired by the stay-behind organization Gladio and the novel Another Time, Another Life by Leif GW Persson .
  • For the main actor Anders W. Berthelsen it was the aspects of the surveillance state and the figure constellation of the little man against the overpowering state that led to the acceptance of the role.

Awards

publication

What Nobody Knows had its premiere on February 11, 2008 as part of the Berlin International Film Festival and was released in Danish cinemas on June 13, 2008. The film grossed 1.9 million US dollars, making it the thirtieth successful film at the Danish box office in 2008. On February 13, 2009, it also started in Sweden and was able to bring in 104 US dollars, making it the biggest flop at the Swedish box office in 2009. In Germany, the film was released directly on DVD on September 25, 2009 and first broadcast on October 5, 2009 on ZDF .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ What nobody knows on rottentomatoes.com (English), accessed on February 21, 2015
  2. ↑ What nobody knows. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Russell Edwards: What No One Knows on variety.com, February 19, 2008 (English), accessed July 21, 2011
  4. ↑ What nobody knows. In: prisma.de . Retrieved November 21, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Jan Söderqvist: Det som ingen ved on svd.se of February 12, 2009 (Swedish), accessed on July 21, 2011
  6. ↑ Det som ingen ved on cinemazone.dk (Danish), accessed on July 21, 2011
  7. ↑ Jesper Hintze Vildbrad: Det Som Ingen Ved on on-z.dk of June 13, 2008 (Danish), accessed on July 21, 2011
  8. ↑ Jesper Hintze Vildbrad: Interview with Søren Kragh-Jacobsen ( Memento from February 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on cinemaonline.dk from June 13, 2008 (Danish), accessed on March 8, 2017
  9. ↑ Nicki Jensen: Det nødvendige oprør - interview with Anders W. Berthelsen on cinemaonline.dk from June 13, 2008 (Danish), accessed on February 2, 2014
  10. ↑ Denmark Yearly Box Office 2008 at boxofficemojo.com (English), accessed July 21, 2011
  11. ↑ Sweden Yearly Box Office 2009 at boxofficemojo.com , accessed July 21, 2011