Before it ends: A Danish cinema gem

I saw Before it ends at the annual Scandinavian Film Festival in Brisbane. I was instantly drawn to the film for its exploration of the dark events in Denmark at the end of WW2 when the occupied country was forced to take in German refugees. The film stars an actor - Pilou Asbaek - I loved in the Danish political television series, Borgen - and I was keen to see him in a different role. (Check out my review of my other Film Festival viewing, Touch.)

Before it ends | Released in Australia July 2024 | Viewed August 2024 | Directed by Anders Walter | Main cast: Pilou Asbaek, Katrine Greis-Rosenthal, and Lasse Peter Larsen

Before it ends is set in the final months of the Second World War in a small town in occupied Denmark. Asbaek plays Jakob, the headmaster of a school that is turned into a camp for 500 German refugees, mostly women, children, and the elderly. The town, understandably, is full of resentment towards the refugees after five years of occupation following the Danish government's surrender to the invading Germans. Jakob and his family are thrust into an impossible situation, testing the limits of their kindness and charity. Should they assist the refugees or support the Danish resistance against the Germans?

The film is inspired by true events: over 250 000 German civil refugees poured into Denmark in the spring of 1945. The influx of refugees created a moral dilemma for Jakob and his wife, Lis, placing them under pressure and knee deep in a seemingly unwinnable situation. Things get even worse after an outbreak of diphtheria in the camp that rapidly causes multiple refugee deaths.

Before it ends is an unsettling but captivating and intelligent look at what the Danish people had to endure after liberation. They were free yet poisoned by hatred and the impotence of their nation against the Germans. The fine performances by Asbaek and the actors who played his wife and son lift the film even higher.

The treatment of the weighty subject matter is handled fairly and sensitively, presenting a rather remarkable story of Jakob's kindness towards the refugees and his struggle as an honest, ethical man in the face of increasing hatred from the townspeople. His choices have a devastating effect on his family, particularly his son, Soren, who is shown at the beginning of the film to worship his father but later is filled with rage after Jakob is branded a traitor.

Before it ends is not an easy watch. It tugs at the core of one's conscience. There are moral dilemmas at every turn. At one stage a German mother pleads for a Danish doctor to treat her sick infant but the town's doctor had been executed by the Germans some weeks earlier. Later, another Danish doctor must decide whether to help a young girl Soren has befriended in the camp who becomes dangerously ill. That scene had me in tears.

Bravo to the director and the actors for presenting a sensitive picture of the refugee situation in Denmark. This film left a mark on me long after I had left the cinema.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐