El único camino

In German occupied Denmark during WWII, since the German invasion in 1940, the Danes had mostly been left in peace. In October 1943 word gets out that thr Nazis are planning to remove the relatively small Jewish population to concentration camps. The resistance plot to help the Jews escape.

Produced by Barry Levinson, this low budget small production tells of one of the great stories of WWII, but sadly this US-Danish production lacks much in the way of powerful drama. The period detail and location work is well done.

This is quite an interesting depiction of the activities of the Danish underground during their WWII occupation by the Nazis. It centres around the Jewish "Stein" family, and of the attempts by the courageous local population to shelter them, and to help them escape to safety. It features a gently engaging performance from a young Jane Seymour, and a host of Danish talent that add authenticity to the piece. It is a little light-weight at times, but the narrative makes no bones about the attitude of most of the people to do what they can to thwart the ambitions of their overlords - and that story is riddled with bravery and potency. The production is a bit limited, it can't have had much of a budget, but what we have here is food for thought, especially for those of us whose nations did not find themselves with unwanted house-guests during the war.

This Danish made and filmed movie about the rescue of Jews in WW2 is quite good even though there are a few unnecessary faults and it can feel awkward compared to a Hollywood movie like Counterfeit Traitor.

The use of many Danish actors and the on location filming makes this a very authentic non glamorized war movie.

It's quite delightful to see a very young and beautiful Jane Seymour dancing ballet. She plays the daughter of the family. There is no contrived romance to get in the way. There are no crazy heroics either or overly sadistic Nazi monsters. One gets to see a broad view of how the Danish helped the Jews escape by train boat hiding hospitals etc.

There is a rather intrusive music that distracts from certain scenes.

Worth a watch.

This portrayal of Danish rescuers of Jews in World War II is the fictional story of how one family's world was turned upside down when the Nazi occupiers in Denmark (since 1940) moved against the Jews of Denmark in violation of their own agreement with Danish leaders that the Jews in Denmark would be left alone. In the fall of 1943, the Germans plotted to gather the Jews of Denmark for deportation on a Jewish holiday evening when the vast majority of Jews would be at home. Jews were so well integrated in Danish society, that no public government records identified the religious affiliations of the population. Thus, the Nazis had to steal the records from Jewish organizations in order to know where to find them. The story illustrates the surprise and refusal of many to believe a round up of Jews would actually take place. The pace of the movie is neither plodding nor frenetic. The tension builds and is enhanced by the bewilderment and on-the-spot decision-making by a specific family and their would-be rescuers. Having read the 1955 book, "October 1943", by actual rescuer Aage Bertelsen, I resonated with virtually every incident faced by those at risk. Although this is not a polished film by modern film-making standards, the content and context of the events is accurately presented. A major strength of the movie is the extensive on- location filming in Copenhagen, and the use of Danish actors.

I like war movies. I like movies about the Jews in World War II. So this movie gets 4 stars just for being a movie about the Jews in World War II. However, this is by far the worst movie of its type I have ever seen. If you aren't a fan of this type of movie, then it has no saving graces and would probably only be worth 1 or 2 points at most. As a viewer I felt no tension whatsoever, despite the topic being one which should have been dripping with tension from start to finish. This was largely down to the musical score, which was totally inappropriate for the type of movie it was. It's as if the orchestra made the score without any reference to the movie content itself. Just re-doing the musical score to something appropriate would probably lift the movie's rating a point or two.