1939

The Swedish historical drama "1939" was released in 1989 directed by Göran Carmback. "1939" is, in my opinion, a hidden jem that made me feel many emotions, while at the same time being fairly educational.

As the title tells, the movie set in the 20th century, capturing the whole war two timeline. The movie begins in 1939, the day Germany invade Poland, and ends the day germany surrenders, the day the world War ends. Containing the theme of the war, the movie isn't terribly graphic, even if the Nazis are in fact mentioned and shown, none of the crimes are shown and gone into the details of. It is notable that the movie is set in Sweden, and, Sweden being neutral, there aren't many mentions of the war's brutality, especially outside Sweden. The movie isn't mainly orientated around World War II, but it's represented in the way that affects swedes and their stance on the countries neutrality. I would definitely not call this movie a war movie, but it is historically accurate and informative to those that know little to nothing of Sweden during the war.

The movie "1939" is about three hours long, which is much more than the average movie. Although it feels like it should have been longer. The first hour and a half is orientated towards the main character's, Annika, life at home, her family, her own character, and, simply, her life. The first half of the movie allows the viewer to get to know the timeline, Annika and that people closest to her. However, the second half of the movie introduces the viewer to her later life, most importantly her blooming relationship. Here appear more personal issues, during which you can see the characters change, for some, mature. After watching Annika's and Bergt's early relationship and young love, it is shocking and even heartbreaking to watch their now married live's love shift. This toxic relationship of theirs, I feel like, is well represented, even roping the viewer into it. Here comes the benefit of the movie being so long, because of the previous two hours the viewer has gained some sort of attachment to the films characters, being able to feel emotions such as empathy, anger, or frustration, sadness and, of course, happiness as well. So far in the movie you've been able to memorise characters and recognise them throughout the movie since some reappear and then disappear again. I feel like this movie was incredibly beautiful. The scenery and atmosphere, the contrast between the big city of Stockholm and the farm, at the very edge of the country, at Wärmland, make the film beautiful. The film has many atmosphere scenes, with beautiful music and gorgeous Swedish views, not really contributing to the plot. These scenes are just enough and help you really get into the movie, it's atmosphere and themes. This movie felt slightly rushed in the end, however, it was still worth watching. This flaw can be overlooked by the beauty and the mixed themes of the movie. "1939" shows well represented days of womanhood, together with well written friendships. "1939" shows how a friendship forms develops and in the end matures. The friendship between two girls in cinema is rarely represented well, if even shown, however this movie does the job of representing two females being close friends really well. The movie shows the true colours of a complicated and toxic relationship without romanticising it. Together with a toxic relationship, in my opinion, also comes a slide theme of women's rights during the time of the movie.

When beginning to watch the movie, I originally thought it would be more World War II orientated, but I wasn't disappointed. For someone like me, that knows almost nothing about Sweden, I felt fairly educated after watching this movie. There are some scenes of Swedish people spreading their own opinions about the war or spreading their ideologies, helping you understand the country during World War II. Overall, I believe that this is a solid 9 out of 10 movie. I believe that this movie is incredibly beautiful and in its own way very well made, especially for its time, however I do feel like at the end it was slightly rushed.

I really enjoyed this. Interesting to see the story of the Scandinavian countries during World War II. The film was digitally restored in 2019 which makes it feel more recent than filmed in 1989. Give it a try!

This film is probably one of the most well-made films Sweden has ever produced. It's serious, it's truthful and believable and it really depicts life in Sweden during the WW2. I'm from Värmland myself, so that part of the film seems most important to me. Many swedes lived with the Third Reich as neighbors during the occupation, and it's a clever touch to include the shooting of some people trying to make it to Sweden.

I also have to point out that my single appearance in any film so far, is at the train station when the father leaves to do military service. See the hats of the little boys running around in the crowd? One of them is me :)

Anyway, well made, and it really shows that this was the most expensive Swedish film to date. Somewhat slow, though.

This is a slow burner for sure. But it rewards a bit of patience so stick with it. The performances and casting are excellent and the characters are all three dimensional. In the course of three hours you get to know them and understand the changing world through their eyes. All of which makes one scene particularly shocking. It's always a good sign when a film stays with you after the credits roll and this one has. Maybe the slow pace matches the mood of lockdown but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

...should be around 7-8. 1939 is now available on Netflix worldwide having an audience 100 times more than in 1989 when was filmed. Quality is outstanding subsequent remastering. The movie is maybe a bit too long, but not boring, great acting, interesting subject, reflecting actually Swedish people life during WWII, that being a neutral country was far better than life of French, Dutch, or Norwegian people. The only reason I don't give more than 8 stars is that finishes too suddenly letting you open to think about how might continue. What I liked especially is that everything happens during action is natural and not as in a soap movie.