The 12th Man (film)

The 12th Man
Directed by	Harald Zwart
Produced by	Aage Aaberge Veslemøy Ruud Zwart Espen Horn
Based on	Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him by Tore Haug Astrid Karlsen Scott
Starring	Thomas Gullestad Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Music by	Christophe Beck
Cinematography	Geir Hartly Andreassen
Edited by	Jens Christian Fodstad
Production company	Nordisk Film Production AS Zwart Arbeid
Distributed by	IFC Midnight
Release date	December 25, 2017 (2017-12-25)
Running time	135 minutes
Country	Norway
Language	Norwegian German

The 12th Man (Norwegian: Den 12. mann) is a 2017 Norwegian historical drama directed by Harald Zwart and written by Petter Skavlan (under the pseudonym Alex Boe). The main role of Jan Baalsrud is played by Thomas Gullestad, who escapes from Germans in Rebbenesøya, via Lyngen Fjord and Manndalen, to neutral Sweden in the spring of 1943.

The film is based on the same historical events and has the same protagonist as the Arne Skouen Oscar-nominated film Nine Lives, in which Baalrud's courage and stamina were also emphasized. The 12th Man is also based on the book Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him, written by Tore Haug and Astrid Karlsen Scott. Harald Zwart secured the film rights for this book in 2004.

Unlike the book, the film puts much emphasis on the efforts of those who helped Baalsrud escape, which was in line with Baalsrud's own statements about the local population's courage. The 12th Man's plot also details the pursuit of Baalsrud from the Gestapo leadership's perspective, with the escape being depicted as cat-and-mouse game between Sturmbannführer Kurt Stage and Baalsrud.

According to German documents, the Nazis believed that the entire Resistance had perished in a blast, meaning that there are no reports indicating that the Germans even knew to hunt for Baalsrud. Baalsrud himself, however, claims that he killed two German soldiers in the fight, which would have definitely created a sharp German response.^[1]

Plot

The 12th Man tells the dramatic story of Jan Baalsrud's escape from the Nazis during World War II.

Twelve Resistance fighters board a fishing boat with six to seven tons of TNT, on Shetland and cross North Sea to carry out sabotage against German military facilities. The mission got into trouble soon after reaching Norway where their local contact was long dead and their identity was compromised by a German sympathiser who immediately informed the Germans about their arrival. A german warship located the fishing boat and opened fire. The resistance fighters set fire to the TNT on their boat and jumped into the water near the fjord. 11 of the fighters were rounded up by the Germans on the beach. One is shot on the spot and ten are captured by the Germans, later being executed on Tromsøya after the German officers interrogated and tortured the captive fighters about their mission. The twelfth, Jan Baalsrud, managed to escape by hiding and swimming on the nearest island. He received the assistance of locals who risked their own lives to help Baalsrud, he manages to get from Rebbenesøya to Sweden, via Lyngenhalvøya and Manndalen.^[2]

Production

In March 2004, producer Veslemøy Ruud Zwart secured the film rights to Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him,^[3] with filming started by April 2016.^[4]

Thomas Gullestad went through a strict diet regimen to play the role.

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 13 reviews with an average rating of 7/10.^[5] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[6]

Aftenposten observed that the film emphasized Baalsrud's helpers and the struggle of the Resistance in a completely different way than in Skouen's Nine Lives, thus serving as a nuance of the Baalsrud legend.^[7]

Morten Ståle Nilsen in Verdens Gang referred to the film as "a solid, but predictable film". While complimenting the amazing scenery of Norway, VS said its magnificent nature couldn't save the film from being monotonous, overlong and too focused on suffering.^[8]

Dagbladet, Bergensavisen and Adresseavisen all gave the movie three out of six dice (a rating system used instead of stars), while Nordlys and Dagbladet gave it four dice. Turkish reviewer Women & Clothing gave it a six dice.

Nicolai Berg Hansson from Film Magasinet said that the film was successful as an action movie, but if one is to criticize it for something, "it may feel a bit… hollow. It might have said much more about human psychology, survival instinct and trauma."^[9]

Sigurd Vik, from P3's Film Police, believed the film was playing with the clichés, especially in the depiction of the Gestapo Kurt Stage. However, the review complimented director Zwart's influence of Nils Gaup, "when combining magnificent coastal and mountain scenery, and the insolence of the wilderness with dense and tough action sequences." The review also said that turning a serious Norwegian Resistance struggle into an action film works well.^[10]

References

Further reading