THE BOMBARDMENT

Denmark, 2021, 107 minutes, Colour.

Alex Hogan Andersen, Fanny Bornedal, Bertram Bisgaard Enevoldsen, Susse Wold, James Tarpey, Ella Josephine Lund Nilsson, Ester Birch.

Directed by Ole Bornedal.

A very moving World War II film.

Each year, surprisingly in many ways since it is 80 years plus and minus since the harrowing events of World War II, that there are so many films dramatising aspects of that war. Lest we forget.

The bombardment is based on a true story, set in Denmark, the city of Copenhagen, March 1945, almost at the end of the war. We are introduced to 5 strands in the story which eventually come together. The tone is vividly set in the opening, three young women happily getting dressed, off to a marriage ceremony, a benign old taxi driver, jollity – and then a plane swooping out of the sky and strafing the car killing them all. And the witness is a young boy, Henry, riding his bike, delivering cartons of eggs. He is overwhelmed by what he sees, traumatised, from then on unable to speak.

The strafing is by the RAF, revealed to be mistaken identity, the consequences weighing heavily on the pilots

We are also introduced to a young man, condemned by his father, discovering that he is working for the occupying Germans. Then one of his friends is confronted in the street, is a resistance member, he is shot, and witnessed by mothers and little girls. It emerges that little girls go to a French school in Copenhagen, that Henry is a cousin of one of them and he goes to the school, managed by a community of sisters. The focus is on one of the sisters, Teresa, penitential, flogging herself, questioning God’s presence and absence, criticised by the superior community, yet devoted to the girls. She has also encountered the German collaborator and told him that he is the devil. But, there is a strange attraction between them.

The plot is ready for the central action. The Germans are occupying a large building in central Copenhagen, the Shell House, and the resistance are requesting the RAF to bomb it, even if some of their members are in cells immediately under the roof. We see the preparations, the planning by the RAF, three squads, setting out for the bombing, the first reaching its target.

However, the drama of the bombardment is the mistaking by two of the squads for the French school as Shell House. From then on, the drama is vivid, highly dramatic, tragic, the bombs and fires, the nuns and children killed and injured, hurrying to the basement, trapped, the attempted rescue… With such suffering of the innocent children, the film is very hard to watch. As is the aftermath, the anxious parents, the nun and one of the little girls beneath the building, water rising, and Henry, dismayed, but finding a task of identifying girls being taken to hospital, writing notes, taking them to the theatre for an actress to read out the details to anguishing parents.

This is not a spoiler, but the ending, narrowly focused, is not what we were quite expecting at all, but gives us a moment of relief before the final credits come up and there is a listing of all those who are killed, especially the names of the children.

Yes, it is difficult to watch, but The Bombardment is recommended.

1. A true story? Harrowing story? The list of those who died listed during the final credits, the number of children?
2. Audience familiarity with stories of World War II, German occupation and consequences? Denmark’s experience of the war? Copenhagen, the Gestapo headquarters? The resistance, arrests, torture? The resistance asking for the bombing of the headquarters, Shell House?
3. 1945, towards the end of the war, Germans defeats? The morale of the Danish people? The presence of the Germans, the SS?
4. The tone of the opening, Henry, young, whistling, the bike, the eggs, the audience seeing the young women getting dressed, preparing for the wedding, the family joy, the taxi driver, exuberance, the sudden plane, the strafing and deaths? The impact on Henry, shock, trauma, not able to speak, fearful of the sky? Is mother taking him to the doctor, the shock tactics, no effect, his mother taking him to her cousins?
5. The introduction of the young girls, singing in the car, the German song? In the street, singing? The confrontation with the young man, his being shot? The mother shielding her daughter’s eyes?
6. Frede, at home, his father’s condemnation, his leaving, the revelation that he was part of the German force, and his presence at the torture? Svend asking his help, his refusal, Svend and the confrontation street, shot?
7. The introduction of the religious theme, Teresa, in herself, flogging herself, her motivations, wanting God to intervene? The comments of the superior? The introduction to the community, their wariness about sister to reason? The management of the school, a French school, the range of girls, the numbers, the classes, the story of Elizabeth of Hungary, the story of her miracle, the play and the rehearsals, the bread turn to roses?
8. The little girls, the discussions with Teresa in class, God and time, God dropping the pencil and taking time to pick it up? The religious themes, the presence of God? Absence of God?
9. Frede and his encounter withTeresa, her whispering to him that he was the devil, the later encounter, coming to the gate, the kiss and Teresa expecting God to intervene? Taking him into the church, the crucifixion, the blood from the crucifix, her piecing her finger? The effect on Frede? Kissing him at the gate, the Superior seeing this, the later threat, that she be expelled? Sister Teresa as a realistic character, as a symbolic character?
10. Henry, being welcomed by the cousins, accompanying Rigmor, the other girls, going to school, talking about seeing deaths? Going to buy the Bahn, the large woman the shop, their fear, the bun poisoned, going into the church, dipping it into the holy water, safe to eat, their satisfaction that got rid of the poison?
11. The presentation of the RAF, the two pilots, friendship, the news that they had destroyed the innocent wedding guests, the effect? The RAF officers, the plan to bomb Shell House, the request of the Resistance, despite Resistance prisoners being held in cells under the roof? The preparation, the plan, the three squads, flying, the danger of pigeons, of hitting power lines? The bombs in Shell House, the effect on the prisoners, one being killed, the others escaping? The torturer and his fleeing?
12. The other squads, the wrong target, the school, the bombardments? The destruction?
13. The children, the nuns, going down the stairs, trying to escape, the injuries, getting to the basement? Henry outside, finally speaking, the fireman advising to take notes and take them to the theatre where the parents were waiting, the actress reading out the information? Henry reunited with Rigmor’s mother?
14. The episode with Eva, at home, refusing to eat the porridge, her father upset? At school, the rehearsal, the sisters urging her to eat something? Her leaving the school and going home?
15. Teresa, trapped, Rigmor, the rising water, Teresa tapping, Frede and his seeing the attack, after deserting the police, returning, working with the father, entering the building, to rescue Teresa, the encounter, and then the collapse of the building?
16. The parents in the theatre, the mother going outside, talking with Henry, the long tracking shot of her running home and finding Eva eating the porridge?
17. The dramatic impact? The emotional impact for the audience?