This film is not a documentary, its not a biographical flick either, more a drama of true happenings based on books,interviews,family,friend,and statements given by moland and french, about what happened one fateful night in the jungle of civil war ridden democratic republic of congo in 2009.
when launched in norwegian cinemas it recieved mixed to negative reviews by media and made great debate in norwegian public and social media. the main issue were that the filmmakers tried to accentuate mr moland and mr french as heroes.
what my personal view on the story is based on are the plentyful coverage made by norwegian broadcasters from the start til mr french got home to norway in 2017 as a relative free man. i shall also make a note that ive heard stories from personal friends with good connections both to the norwegian military and deep bonds to central african affairs that both mr french and mr moland were adrenalin seekers, well known mercinaries, very well seasoned within weapon use and warfare, and a pretty good example of ''brothers in arms''. if that is correct or not only history will tell, what i felt when the trials rolled on slow congolese pace were pittyness for them and especially their parents and families. so whats wrong or whats right,who knows, only joshua can tell because he is the only survivor of this drama. so i hope the congolese government uses the ransom money paid by the norwegian state to plant some ''joshua trees'' to make the blind man see and eventually climb down and give the victims, including mr moland some piece.
so This is a very inconclusive film when considering the guilt of crimes,that tjostolv moland and joshua french were accused for by congolese criminal courts.
but as a film it delivers brilliant acting, most of all by aksel hennie as mr french, and fulfilled by his coactor Tobias Santelmann as mr moland. the filmographic presentation are very good, the locations and production design are very truthfull and close up to the real world. the sound and some of the shooting scene made me jump on the sofa more than once. so wether you have heard about the case of them two norwegian mercenaries or not and want to enjoy a really well made film on low budget then watch this film by the director Marius Holst and his crew and 30-35 producers, because it makes tension into a new definition. very good and recommended.
