The Shadow in My Eye (2021)

With the Danish Resistance convinced that it is only a matter of time before the Gestapo manage to break down their organisation, they seek the assistance of the RAF to bomb it's Copenhagen headquarters. This mission is made all the more controversial because they know that many of their colleagues are being held prisoner in the attics of that buding to deter allied bombing raids. Nonetheless, a strike is ordered - a very low flying affair where it proves very difficult for the pilots to get and retain their bearings amidst the red-tiled buildings of the city. Regrettably, one of the planes mistakenly targets a school next door and so whilst destruction is reigned down upon the enemy, it is also visited upon some nuns and some children - and what ensues now is a desperate effort to save whom they can from the rubble and repatriate the children - alive or dead - to their apprehensive parents. Firstly, this is a stark reminder that there are no certainties in wartime and that even the best laid plans can go awry amidst the close confines of urban warfare - and that collateral damage rarely just involved bricks and mortar. On the personal level, though, this also shows something of the determined stoicism of the people who didn't have time to blame or shake their fists at the skies, but who had to get their sleeves rolled up and muck in. For that, the sisters show a remarkable and practical resiliance - exemplified by the mischievous sister "Teresa" (Fanny Leander Bornedal), and many of the children recover quickly from their tears and shellshock to help where they can. Young "Henry" (Bertram Bisgaard) alongside "Eva" (Ella Lund Nilsson) and "Rigmor" (Ester Birch) really do raise the stakes with personable and emotionally-charged performances that bely their young ages. Aside from the obvious questions of religiosity and of God looking after his flock by allowing bombs to drop on them, there is also something of the brutality of the Nazi occupiers as they interrogate those they suspect of being involved in fighting for the freedom of their kingdom. The production spares us little of the violence of their inhumane techniques - without becoming unduly graphic and whilst illustrating the nigh-on impossible difficulties faced by many ordinary and conflicted Danes treading on eggshells as they tried to balance co-operation with collaboration, mindful that they and their families were always at risk. The adults deliver well, but this film really belongs to the youngsters who deliver the film's knock-out punches.