Synopsis
He revealed the lie, so we could know the truth
A whistle blower attempts to reveal the secret behind a nuclear disaster that occurred during the height of the Cold War.
2015 ‘Idealisten’ Directed by Christina Rosendahl
A whistle blower attempts to reveal the secret behind a nuclear disaster that occurred during the height of the Cold War.
Peter Plaugborg Søren Malling Arly Jover Thomas Bo Larsen Henrik Birch Nikolaj Cederholm Jesper Hyldegaard Claus Bue Kristoffer Fabricius Anne-Vibeke Mogensen Christian Lund Hans Rønne Marijana Janković Michael Moritzen Niels Ellegaard Tammi Øst Tom Jensen Pat Robinson Mikkel Vadsholt Nikki Donely Paul Kelleher Barbara Barnes Larry Jack Dotson Grant James Peter Oliver Hansen Jens Albinus Sofia Nolsøe Mikkelsen Hans Henrik Clemensen Sandra Ostermann Cardichon Show All…
A hard hitting Danish film about a journalist uncovering government truths during the cold war, based on true events. Intense, gripping and it didn't feel anywhere near 2 hours in length. Always a good sign.
"En riktig god film". Danish political thriller about exposing government secrets from the cold war when Denmark officially said no to nuclear weapons, but apparently had a different deal going on with the US. And besides being a very true story, using real TV footage from the time to gain a real feeling of the times, the staging is impressively put together. Creates a urgency into the uncovering of the scandal and gives good detail into the remarkable cover-up by the new governments 20 years later, not wanting the details of the '1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash' revealed. Scary to think almost American tendencies were alive in Scandinavia in this way.
Hvorfor har man Thomas Bo Larsen med i filmen bare for at give ham et halvt minuts screentime
Coincidentally the second film this week I've watched that uses archive footage woven into it. This time it's to tell and build upon a 'true story' rather than clevery illustrate a fanciful one (LOLA, 2022)
An absorbing dramatisation of the aftermath of the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash in Greenland (of which I previously knew nothing) and the titular Danish journalist Poul Brink investigating the health issues suffered by clean-up workers, governmental cover ups and US/Denmark conspiracies surrounding the incident around 20 years later. While it's a bit of a slow burn the just shy of two hour passed swiftly and now I'm off to find out more about what actually went on.
Coincidentally I've just renewed my Scottish CND membership this week, initially taken out after watching another film with nuclear weapons in the plot. (Threads, 1984)
I didn't have much knowledge about the Thule-incident beforehand, so on a purely informational level on real historic events this was an interesting watch. I do think however it works less well as a movie.
The aim of this is clearly to be as factual as possible within the limitations of a feature length movie. There are plenty of documentary real footage throughout the movie as well as informational text in the beginning and end. This works well in telling the events in a factual manner and shows Brink's journalistic work in a way that feels believable.
The topic of the movie is extremely relevant even today, because at the core it shows how Denmark have been doing shady deals…
January 21st, 1968 – An American B-52 bomber carrying nuclear warheads has just crashed on the polar ice near the US Military Air Base in Danish controlled Thule, Greenland. A few days later, responsible governments classify the crash as a Broken Arrow scenario, but proclaims the situation as being under control. Hundreds of Thule workers are set to work, helping in the gigantic clean-up operation. After eight months, all traces of the crashed aircraft and the plutonium-contaminated snow are gone. The case is closed.18 years on, while covering a local workers compensation story, reporter Poul Brink suddenly runs into suspicious circumstances linking back to the 68’ nuclear accident cover-up. Apparently, the full and true story about the crash lays well-protected, deep under the Thule Bay’s ice cap and deep down the classified archives in the US.
Christina Rosendahl does a great job of blending archival materials with her own original work in a way that reminds the audience that this is a true story without totally pulling viewers out of her creative retelling of these true events. THE IDEALIST also demonstrates Rosendahl's clear sense of pacing and structure.
While overall the film is a fast-moving (despite its two hour runtime) and enjoyable watch, Rosendahl avoids really getting deep into the actual emotional meat of the story: the question of how should one sacrifice in order to bring truth to power. In the final act of the film, Poul is repeatedly confronted with this question and, from the very beginning of the film, viewers are given a…
(Idealisten)
A compelling political, conspiracy drama. Really interesting true story that I didn't know anything about. I know this was good cause I'm genuinely interested in the story and now trawling the wiki pages about it.
A Slow burn thriller about political issue beetween Denmark and America.
Intense and Gripping!
Wäre als Dokumentation ein besserer Film, was sich auch daran zeigt, dass das erstaunlich häufig verwendete Archivmaterial das Beste ist.
So ist's eben nur ein etwas blutleerer Journalism-Procedural - Film, den die Amerikaner dann doch besser können.