Among the films that competed for the 89th Oscars for Best Foreign Language Films, 3 WWII themed films reached the top 9: "Minefields" (Denmark), "War Paradise" (Russia), and "The King's Choice" (Norway) . The Danish "Minefield" must be familiar to everyone. Last year, the film won the best actor and best music awards at the Beijing International Film Festival. The film has a strong anti-war color, telling the tragic story of a group of German boys clearing minefields in Denmark after World War II.
Russia was the main country participating in the Second World War. The Olympic bid "Paradise of War" tells the story of a Russian aristocratic woman who lived in France during World War II, joined a resistance organization, and fell in love with a Nazi officer. The protagonist struggles with the choice of love, survival, and political stance, a bit similar to Paul Van Hoeven’s "Black Book". (I didn’t find the film source, I just guessed it based on the synopsis)
And Norway's selection film is this "The King's Choice".
Speaking of Norway, most people may only think of it as a Nordic country, or think of Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Forest". In the Second World War, Norway did not have any sense of existence. Like many small European countries, it strictly adhered to a neutral policy, hoping to avoid being attacked by the warring parties.
A famous cartoon during World War II satirized the neutral policy of small European countries. However, due to the importance of geographical location (the iron ore imported by Germany from Sweden needs to pass through Norwegian waters), Norway eventually became a battlefield for the game between Britain and France and Germany. In April 1940, Germany finally launched an offensive against Norway, and soon occupied the entire territory of Norway. Due to the disparity in national power, Norway only carried out sporadic resistance within the territory, and then the Norwegian royal family and government fled to the United Kingdom to form a government in exile. The seemingly infamous history of World War II, why should a Norwegian make a movie to sing praises for themselves? The film "The King's Choice" tells us the answer from the perspective of King Haakon VII of Norway. In 1905, the "Swedish-Norwegian Union" disintegrated and Norway gained independence. In the same year, Norway chose to retain the monarchy through a referendum, and elected Prince Karl of Denmark as King of Norway, and he became King Haakon VII. In 1940, Hakon VII had changed from a handsome young man to an old man. He pursued a policy of neutrality in the complicated international situation and never interfered much in government affairs. In his later years, his children and grandchildren circulated around his knees to enjoy the happiness of family. But the war in Europe intensified and soon spread to Norway. In the face of the aggressive posture of Nazi Germany, King Haakon VII did not live up to the trust of the people and insisted on his ethics.
Crown Prince Olaf (the future King Olaf V of Norway) has always wanted to fight side by side with the Norwegian people, just to be worthy of his conscience.
During the escape of the Norwegian royal family, German artillery continued to bombard, even if you were the king, Haakon VII was as frightened and helpless as ordinary people.
Witnessing the destruction of his country and people by the German army, the old king seemed helpless. Although helpless, Hakon VII has the character of being soft on the outside and strong on the inside. At the end of the film, the director did not arrange an exciting speech on the war against the king, but told the audience the next story with simple subtitles: "The German airstrike killed 34 people. This incident prompted the king to make a decision to fight. 1940. On April 11, 2012, Norway officially declared war on Germany."
It took Norway only two days from the German attack on April 9 to the official declaration of war on Germany. The direct cause was an air strike that killed 34 people. Some people say: A country like Norway has hardly contributed to the fight against fascism on the battlefield, so why should it brag about its history of World War II? I think maybe it's because of this courage to daring to use the sword. After all, the time for China to declare war on Japan is one year later than Norway. In the "September 18 Incident" of 1931, China was invaded by Japan; in the "July 7 Incident" of 1937, the Nationalist government began a full-scale war of resistance; in December 1937, the Japanese army launched the "Nanjing Massacre", and more than 300,000 civilians died. Under the butcher knife of fascism. However, the National Government at that time had always lacked the courage to declare war on Japan.
It was not until the outbreak of the "Pearl Harbor" incident in December 1941 that Britain, the United States and other countries successively declared war on Japan, and the National Government formally declared war on Japan. In a sense, Norway joined the anti-fascist war of the people of the world earlier than China. On June 9, 1940, two months after Norway declared war, German troops occupied the entire territory of Norway. King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olaf and others fled to Britain to form a government in exile to resist the Nazi German occupation of Norway. In 1944, Crown Prince Olaf was appointed Minister of Defence of Norway and led the Norwegian people to disarm the German invading army after the war. In 1957, Haakon VII died in Oslo at the age of 85. Crown Prince Olaf succeeded to the throne and was called Olaf V.
King Olaf V of Norway (1903-1991) People often say that "weak countries have no diplomacy", but it does not mean that weak countries have to give up their dignity blindly. Isn't the Norwegian royal family's approach more spineless than the futility of "Chang Kaishen" at the time? If it is said that the choice of the King of Norway won the respect of the Norwegian people, then it must be the choice of the Chinese people to abandon the corrupt and incompetent national government. Of course, Norway can make a movie celebrating their history of World War II, just like the Danish "War Day": a group of Danish soldiers on bicycles resisting the armored forces of the German army.
"War Day" stills because there are strong people in this world, and some weak, but the courage of the weak to maintain dignity is always worthy of our respect.
Replenish:
The black Kuomintang is not the same as black China. As far as the Kuomintang’s garbage performance is concerned, there are more puppet troops than the occupying forces. After the war of resistance, the Japanese were paid the Boxer compensation. How can a garbage comprador group not be black? The Kong Jing retreats!
View more about The King's Choice reviews
