Film / Miracle at Midnight

A Disney Made-for-TV Movie following the Occupation of Denmark during the Second World War. Dr. Karl Koster struggles to maintain peace under the German occupation, unaware of the resistance activities of his own son. After treating a young resistance fighter for a gunshot though he and his family and friends get drawn in deeper. With the Nazi plan to deport the Jews of Denmark to concentration camps, they become involved in a bold, mass plan to warn them and smuggle them out of the country. The scope and success of the plan is portrayed as the titular miracle. Features Mia Farrow, Justin Whalin, Patrick Malahide, and Andrew Scott.

Tropes:

• Action Girl: Karin is a loyal resistance member and ok with a gun during the climax.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Stated by Georg Duckwitz, who says he came to the country as a faithful Nazi, but was welcomed by the natives, Jews included, causing him to become sympathetic to their goals and survival.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Many of the Jews who are unable to escape the Nazi sweeps kill themselves.
• Character Witness: A German officer Karl operates on vouches for his trustworthiness when the S.S. show up to search his house, blissfully unaware that he is in fact hiding Jews there.
• Cool Big Bro: Henrik and Elsa might tease each other a bit but get along with each other playfully and have trust with each other.
• The Dragon: Major Langer, who leads the searches of Jewish homes. He turns into a Dragon-in-Chief near the end, speaking for Best's superiors who are unhappy with his progress.
• Driven to Suicide: As the date for the arrests draws nearer, rather than go into hiding the local tailor who is Married to the Job chooses this option and hangs himself.
  Mr. Levy's suicide note: This is no longer my world, Shalom, Isaac Levy.
• Exact Words: Best falls back on this after the escape of more than 90% of the country's Jewish population.
  Best: I promised to purge Denmark of Jews. And it is purged.
• Fake Out Makeout: Henrik and his girlfriend Karin do this at the remains of a Jewish campsite after warning the residents in order to delay and divert the Germans searching the area.
• For the Evulz: Werner Best orders the arrest of the Jews on their new year.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Downplayed, give the impressionistic nature of chidden, but one of Else's Koster's classmates, who has classes shows no concern about the idea of their Jewish classmates being taken away, coming about how her parents say that they should be segregated or worse and it's about time the Germans did something.
• General Ripper: Best is portrayed this way, being happy to go after the Jews and eager to punish anyone helping them.
• Handicapped Badass: Jorgen leads the efforts of the student resistance to help the fleeing Jews with his arm still in a sling after he was wounded by the Germans during an act of sabotage earlier.
• Happily Married: The Kosters care for and confide in each other deeply.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Henrik is captured by the Germans with a truckload of Jews when fighting them to buy Jorgen time to escape. In a bittersweet inverse, Jorgen then comes back to try and reduce him form jail later, only to die in the process.
  • Doris remains to distract the Germans while her daughter takes an escape route when their being followed.
• Historical Domain Character: Georg Duckwitz and Werner Best.
• Hospital Hottie: Hannah, Karl's Jewish nurse.
• Human Shield: Jorgen uses a Gestapo soldier as one during a gunfight outside the jail.
• Immigrant Patriotism: Georg admits to seeing Denmark as his home over Germany after so many years there.
• Implied Death Threat: Delivered to Henrik by one German officer early on, in regards to the youth resistance.
  We will be watching you students, be cautious.
• Inconvenient Hippocratic Oath: Averted, it causes Karl to treat both German soldiers, and resistance fighters that he hides, but he never sees it as a burden.
• Jumped at the Call: Karl and his hospital staff hesitate very little before working out how to use their ambulances and empty beds to hide and transport Jews.
• Just in Time: The Jews hiding at the hospital get out sjsut a minute or two before the Nazis arrive to search it.
• Les Collaborateurs: There are a few, although mostly off-screen save for Arne who tries to sabotage a resistance attempt to smuggle out the Jews and alert the Nazis.
• La Résistance: Henrik, his friend Jorgen and many other students, followed by lots of the country. They start out just passing around progoganda, then move on to active fighting.
• A Million Is a Statistic: Referenced by Georg.
  Georg: It's easy to persecute the nameless, and the faceless, but these people are not faceless to me.
• Missed Him by That Much: The first scene has a German soldier stop Henrik and search his bag, with Henrik revealing that had the guy dug all the way down he would have fodun anti-German leaflets at the bottom. Likewise, General Best's visit to a German soldier at Karl's hospital just barely misses the Jews hiding there.
• The Mole: Georg Duckwitz, who alerts the Jewish community about the planned deportations.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Karl's patient Ben (later one of those he hides) is very mindful of the likelihood of a German roundup.
  • Best brief consider the possibility that Georg was the one who warned the Jews about his operation, but Georg manages to bluff his way past him.
• Rousseau Was Right: The film portrays dozens of ordinary people working to warn and then their jewish neighbors despite the vast risk and no reward beyond the knowledge that it's the right thing to do.
• Run for the Border: The Jews of Denmark flee to Sweden by boat, staying in hiding until there are boats available.
• Sacrificial Lion: Jorgen is the only major character to die.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The Danish policemen who let Henrik go after he's arrested.
• Secret-Keeper: Else is conflicted when Henrik and her parents both (independently) commit resistance acts and order her not to tell the res of the family.
• Taking You with Me: One invalid Jewish man who can't run when the Nazis' arrive does this when they come into his bedroom.
  Soldier: Old man, you are coming with us.
  Old Jewish man in wheelchair: Actually No, my friend, you are coming with me.
  He raises a gun and shoots the German.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Doris, after a while with their "House guests".
  Doris: I wanted to apologize for not being the one to ask you here.
• Villainous BSoD: Best gets more and more irritable and edgy as the Jews of Denmark evade capture.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Several German soldiers trying to capture a boat of fleeing Jews are surrounded and captured by Resistance members, being led away with their hands in the air, but its never shown what was done to them.