The Border (2011)
"Gränsen" (original title)

December 1942. Two young soldiers leave their post at check-point 83 in Northern Värmland, Sweden, and make their way through the ice cold winter-night towards the border of Nazi-occupied ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Holm

Writers:

André Sjöberg, Johnny Steen

Stars:

André Sjöberg, Antti Reini, Bjørn Sundquist

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
André Sjöberg	...	Aron Stenström
Antti Reini	...	Wille Järvinen
Bjørn Sundquist	...	Egil
Johan Hedenberg	...	Major Adolfsson
Marie Robertson	...	Karin Lindström
Martin Wallström	...	Sven Stenström
Rasmus Troedsson	...	Kapten Keller
Henrik Norlén	...	Wicksell
Jonas Karlström	...	Bergström
Ingmar Robertson	...	Furir Ekberg
Donald Högberg	...	Överste Dunér
Anders Nordahl	...	Axel Halvars
Tind Soneby	...	Lotta
Andreas Zetterberg	...	Johansson
Jens Hultén	...	Hagman

Storyline

December 1942. Two young soldiers leave their post at check-point 83 in Northern Värmland, Sweden, and make their way through the ice cold winter-night towards the border of Nazi-occupied Norway. Sweden stands on the brink of invasion and the soldiers want to see the enemy everybody's talking about. But the adventure ends in disaster and the following day Lieutenant Aron Stenström finds out that his brother Sven is one of the missing soldiers. With the odds against him, he is forced to go on a secret rescue mission behind enemy lines. Deep in the Norwegian forest Aron realizes that a completely different kind of line must be crossed if they're to come out alive.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi occupied norway | border crossing

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [se]

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish German Norwegian

Release Date:

28 January 2011 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Beyond the Border

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 122 min 117 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The German plan to invade Sweden found in the briefcase taken from the crashed German plane is named Operation Polarfuchs. However, in reality Operation Polarfuchs was a totally different operation, part of the joint German/Finnish attack on the Soviet Union from Northern Finland.

User Reviews

Poor script and direction sinks an OK idea

I wanted to like this movie, but I just can't. The poor script, the editing and the direction just destroys any possible enjoyment of this Swedish WWII-thriller.

The premise of the movie - a WWII border incident between neutral Sweden and the by Germany occupied Norway - is credible. The winter setting could make for some good cinematography.

However, scene after scene is utterly ridiculous. Again and again characters behave like complete idiots without explanation. The behavior is so utterly improbable and stupid that it is impossible to take the movie seriously.

Additionally, many characters suffer from tired clichés (all German captains are of course pale psychopaths who torture people for no reason and smoke cigars with which they burn their victims). Lastly, both the editing and the direction leaves much to be desired. Scenes are not set up properly. Action scenes look ridiculous with characters appearing from nowhere etc. Many scenes are missing, adding to the sense of incredibility.

There is no wonder that the script is bad: it was written by the lead actor who, as it seems, has never written anything for the screen previously.

Avoid this movie and see something else.