''The 12th Man'' ( no, Den 12. mann) is a 2017 Norwegian

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film directed by

Harald Zwart Harald Zwart (born 1 July 1965) is a Dutch-Norwegian film director. Life and career Although born in the Netherlands, Zwart was raised in Fredrikstad, Norway. By age eight, he had started making short films. He attended the Dutch Film Academy in ...

, starring Thomas Gullestad as

Jan Baalsrud Jan Sigurd Baalsrud, MBE (13 December 1917 – 30 December 1988) was a commando in the Norwegian resistance trained by the British during World War II. Biography Early life Jan Baalsrud was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway and moved wi ...

, who escapes from occupying

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

s in

Rebbenesøya or ) is an island in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The southern third of the island is part of Tromsø Municipality while the northern (larger) portion of the island is part of Karlsøy Municipality. There is a regular ferry connection from ...

, via Lyngen Fjord and Manndalen, to neutral Sweden in the spring of 1943. The film, based on historical events, was adapted from the book ''Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him'' (2001) by Tore Haug and Astrid Karlsen Scott. Like the book, ''The 12th Man'' emphasizes the efforts of those who helped Baalsrud escape, which is in line with Baalsrud's own statements about the local population's courage. The plot also details the pursuit of Baalsrud from the

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

(SD) leadership's perspective, depicting the escape as a

cat-and-mouse game Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse ...

between Kurt Stage and Baalsrud.

Plot

''The 12th Man'' tells the dramatic story of Jan Baalsrud's escape from the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, 12 Norwegian resistance fighters board a fishing boat with eight tons of

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

and cross the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

as part of Operation Martin with a plan to sabotage German military facilities. The mission gets into trouble soon after reaching Norway, where their local contact is long dead and their identity is compromised by a German sympathiser, who informs the Germans about their arrival. A German warship locates the fishing boat and opens fire. The resistance fighters ignite the TNT and jump into the water near the fjord. Eleven of the fighters are rounded up by the Germans on the beach. One is shot on the spot and ten are captured. Two die from torture while being interrogated, the other captive fighters are executed on

Tromsøya or is an island in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It lies in the Tromsøysundet strait between the mainland and the larger island of Kvaløya. The city of Tromsø is located on the island, which has 39,882 residents ...

, after the German officers interrogate and torture them about their mission. The 12th resistance fighter, Jan Baalsrud, manages to escape by hiding and swimming across the fjord, in sub-zero temperatures. He receives assistance from locals who risk their lives to help. He undergoes severe physical trials of endurance and hardship. Baalsrud is helped to escape from

to Sweden, via Lyngenhalvøya and Manndalen.

Cast

* as

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe; 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor, model and musician. He is known for his roles in the films ''Michael Collins'' (1996), ''Velvet Goldmine'' (1998), ''Titus'' (1999), ''Bend It Like B ...

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...

* as Gudrun Grønnvoll *

Mads Sjøgård Pettersen Mads Sjøgård Pettersen (born 21 January 1984) is a Norwegian actor known for his role of Fredrik Kayser on mini-series ''The Heavy Water War'' and for his portrayal of Håvard Bakkeli on the series '' Nobel''. Career In 2009 he portrayed T ...

as Marius Grønnvoll * as Nils "Nigo" Nilsen * as Hanna Grønnvoll * Vegar Hoel as * Martin Kiefer as Walther Wenders *

Trond Peter Stamsø Munch Trond Peter Stamsø Munch (born November 13, 1960) is a Norwegian actor. He graduated from the Norwegian National Academy of Theater and has been engaged with the Trøndelag Theater since 1989. He is married to the writer and playwright Tale N� ...

as Aslak Fossvoll * Maria Grazia Di Meo as Anna Pedersen * Eirik Risholm Velle as * Håkon Thorstensen Nielsen as * Torgny Gerhard Aanderaa as Sverre Odd Kverhellen * Alexander Zwart as * Ole Victor Corral as Magnus Johan Kvalvik * Håkon Smeby as * Axel Barø Aasen as Frithjof Meyer Haugland * Eric Dirnes as * Daniel Frikstad as * Kenneth Åkerland Berg as Alfred A. Vik * Sigurd Kornelius Lakseide as Ingvald Pedersen * as Ragnhild Hansen *

Nils Utsi Nils Reidar Utsi (22 July 1943 – 1 January 2019) was a Norwegian Sámi actor, stage director and film director. Biography He worked for the theatres Den Nationale Scene in Bergen, Hålogaland Teater, which he also cofounded, and Beaivváš S� ...

as an older Sámi

Production

In March 2004, producer Veslemøy Ruud Zwart secured the film rights to the book ''Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him''. Filming began by April 2016. The book and its film adaptation have the same protagonist as

Arne Skouen Arne Skouen (18 October 1913 – 24 May 2003) was a Norwegian journalist, author, film director and film producer. Biography Arne Skouen was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. His parents were Peder Nikolai Skouen (1883-1978) and Jenny ...

's Oscar-nominated film '' Nine Lives'' (1957), in which Baalsrud's courage and stamina were also emphasized. Jan Baalsrud'''s'' story was also told in ''We Die Alone'' by

David Howarth David Ross Howarth (born 10 November 1958) is a British academic and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005–10. He served as an Electoral Commissioner between 2010 and 2018. He is Professor of L ...

. According to German documents, the Nazis believed that the resistance group had perished in a blast. There are no reports indicating that the Germans knew to hunt for Baalsrud, who claims that he killed two German soldiers in the fight. Thomas Gullestad went on a diet to play the lead role.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 86%, based on 21 reviews with an average rating of 6.52/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gives the film a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on ten critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ''Aftenposten'' observes that the film emphasizes Baalsrud's helpers and the struggle of the Resistance in a completely different way than in

's film '' Nine Lives'' (1957); ''The 12th Man'' offers a nuance to the Baalsrud legend. Morten Ståle Nilsen, in ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'', refers to ''The 12th Man'' 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. Nicolai Berg Hansson, from ''Film Magasinet'', said the film was successful as an

action movie Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

, 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". Sigurd Vik, from P3's ''Film Police'', believed the film was playing with clichés, especially in the depiction of the SS officer Kurt Stage. The review complimented director Zwart's influence of

Nils Gaup Nils Gaup (born 12 April 1955) is a Sámi film director from Norway. Career Gaup was born in Kautokeino, Finnmark County in Northern Norway. He first intended to become an athlete but from 1974 to 1978 he went to drama school and studied at the ...

, "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.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:12th Man, The (film) 2017 films 2017 action drama films 2017 biographical drama films 2017 war drama films 2010s survival films

Films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

2010s Norwegian-language films Norwegian biographical films Norwegian historical films Norwegian war drama films Norwegian World War II films World War II films based on actual events Films directed by Harald Zwart 2010s historical films