Flame & Citron is a 2008 historical drama directed by Ole Christian Madsen. It depicts the true story of two Danish resistance fighters (Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen) during the Nazi occupation of Denmark in World War II.
The movie also stars Stine Stengrade, Peter Mygind, Christian Berkel, Hanns Zischler, Lars Mikkelsen, and Jesper Christensen.
It was released on March 28, 2008.
Tropes for the film:
- Artistic License – History:
- Flame & Citron did accidentally kill a seven-year-old boy on one of their assignments, which shook them both deeply. However, they did not find out what had happened until several hours after the event.
- Citron was arrested by the HIPO corps and wounded while escaping, but unlike in the film, Flame was not together with him when it happened.
- Flame did not commit suicide to avoid capture by the Gestapo until four days after the death of Citron.
- Cyanide Pill: At the start of the movie, Flame is shown putting two pistols and a cyanide pill in his pockets before going on an assassination mission for La Résistance. The end of the movie he's cornered in a safe house by German troops, so he takes the pill to avoid capture and torture by the Gestapo. Citron, on the other hand, decides to make a Last Stand.
- Deadly Delivery: The film opens with this. A woman with a bouquet of flowers (ostensibly sent from his colleagues) gets a collaborator to open the door, then La Résistance shoots him.
- Impersonating an Officer: The title characters sometimes pose as police officers when carrying out their assassinations for La Résistance, thanks to their handler who's a police solicitor and can get them official badges. This backfires when they dress in police uniforms to assassinate a Gestapo chief only to be arrested on sight, as the Germans are rounding up and deporting all Danish police officers, replacing them with their own collaborationist units.
- Last Stand: The otherwise noncombatant Citron goes down shooting and takes a number of Nazi soldiers with him.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Axel Winther (Peter Mygind) is based on the controversial resistance figure Wilhelm Leifer (1904-93). Leifer was in charge of issuing visa to neutral Sweden and used his position to help many resistance fighters, communists and Jews escape the Nazis. He was also able to provide the resistance with valuable intelligence that he learned from his contacts with various high-ranking Germans. However, after the war he was put on trial and accused of having arranged the assassination of Hubert Gilbert to cover up that they had been doing lucrative business with the Wehrmacht together. He was acquitted, but the suspicions followed him until his death.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The title characters are assassins for the Danish resistance but find their superior is using them to kill people to cover up his own crimes.
- Violence Is Disturbing: The movie features some (slightly) romanticized violence, but uses this trope as well.
