Beyond the Border

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.