ENEMY LINES

UK, 2020, 93 minutes, Colour.

Ed Westwick, John Hannah, Tom Wisdom, Corey Johnson, Pawel Delag.

Directed by Anders Banke.

Enemy Lines is a film about Poland, the resistance, a scientist held by the Nazis, is rescued by an American-British team, pursued by the Germans as well as by a team of Russians.

It is small budget, fairly direct in its storytelling. It resembles the war films of earlier decades.

In many ways, the plot is familiar. However, it is a story worth telling. The film opens with a raid by what seems the Resistance. The action then goes back two weeks, London, the British authorities represented by John Hannah, the American authorities represented by Corey Johnson and the proposal for the rescue of the Polish scientist. There are also sequences of him at work, the demands of the authorities, his being allowed to visit his family once a month – but always the threats if he does not produce results.

The rescue team is headed by an American who speaks Polish, Kaminski, played by Ed Westwick. The rest of the team a British, critical of the Americans but following orders. The various difficulties, landing in Poland from a Swedish fishing boat, avoiding the Germans, effecting the rescue that was earlier seen, with the tragedy of the scientist’s wife accidentally being shot. There are emotional scenes between the scientist and his young daughter, grieving the death of her mother.

The rest of the film shows the journey back, lack of radio contact, going to a local village, the German threats to the inhabitants, the help from the resistance, the arrival of the Russian team to abduct the scientist and their disguising themselves as Germans. There are pursuits, shootouts. And there is what seems an unnecessary love scene between one of the British soldiers and the resistance leader, the dialogue giving him delete the opportunity to express regrets about killings early in his career.

Eventually, the plane arrives, and, with a nice twist, the Russians decide to help the escape team, better for the scientist to be taken to the west rather than held by the Nazis. (Later they may have regretted this!).

There is a final note about the scientist, Joseph Rotblat, working on the Manhattan Project, his conscious qualms about the destruction, and his winning the Nobel Peace Prize 1995.

1. A war film, 21^st-century war telling, old-style filmmaking?
2. The Polish setting, the situation, the German occupation, the Nazi holdover scientists, their work on atomic theory, the Allies and the planning of a rescue?
3. The opening, the raid, the defeat of the Germans, the plot going back two weeks, the recapitulation of the raid after 30 minutes of the film?
4. Britain, the Colonel, very British, not enthusiastic about the Americans? The Americans, the proposal, the request for help, the British team, their personalities, working together?
5. The Swedish fishing boat, rolling ashore, the patrols, hiding the boat, later discovered? Going to the house, the rescue of the scientist, the shootings, the Germans seeming easy targets continually coming out of the house, the sudden death of the scientist’s wife? The daughter’s grief?
6. The Russians, deciding to abduct the scientist, arriving late, disguising themselves as Germans, the later confrontation with the rescue team, the final decision to help rather than give the scientist to the Nazis?
7. Going to the village, the dangers, the resistance and their help, the threats to the village, going to the resistance, the scene between the resistance leader and the soldier, his confession about the past?
8. The resistance, their personalities, ideology, the leader offering to teach the girl how to shoot – her father’s objection, and the irony of the little girl thinking her father under threat and killing the woman?
9. Radio contact, the prospect of the plane? Escape, the pursuit by the Germans, the help of the Russians, the shootouts, the number of deaths?
10. The final rescue, safety in London?
11. The final information about the Nobel winner, Joseph Rotblat, and his objections to the object of the Manhattan project?