They were 12 saboteurs. The Nazis killed 11 of them. This is the true story of the one that got away.They were 12 saboteurs. The Nazis killed 11 of them. This is the true story of the one that got away.They were 12 saboteurs. The Nazis killed 11 of them. This is the true story of the one that got away.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 4 nominations
- Sigurd Eskeland
- (as Vegar Hoel)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThomas Gullestad lost 15kg (33 pounds) in just 8 weeks for the role.
- GoofsAfter Baalsrud leaves the midwife, she sees that he has left his stocking cap behind and is able to hide it at the moment the Germans walk in. Later, when Baalsrud arrives at the Hansen's home, he is wearing the stocking cap again.
- Quotes
Title Card: WWII. April 9, 1940, Norway is occupied by Nazi Germany and Hitler establishes "Festung Norwegen". The German war machine moves to the far north and the allied convoys suffer enormous losses.
Title Card: Scotland 1943. Norwegian soldiers are trained by the British forces to carry out the vital sabotage missions in Norway. Operation Martin Red was launched on March 24. Twelve Norwegian resistance fighters set sail for Norway. Their mission: to sabotage German airfields and installations.
Title Card: Only one man came back alive. The most incredible events in this story are the ones that actually took place.
- Crazy creditsFrom the introduction titles: "The most incredible events in this story are the ones that actually took place"
- ConnectionsReferenced in La noche de...: La noche de... El duodécimo hombre (2019)
I've seen a few of director Harold Zwart's earlier Hollywood productions, but nothing quite like, or as good as The 12th Man. Apparently the Dutch-born, but Norwegian-raised Zwart, has long sought to do a story about this Norwegian folk-hero, about whom has had books written and a previous film made about his exploits. Baalsrud himself, during his lifetime, was at pains to stress the importance of the help he received from local folk along the journey and this production has clearly aimed to provide those sort of kudos.
"The 12th Man" is also first rate in technical and design aspects, utilising frequently spectacular widescreen location photography of alpine valleys, snow-capped mountain ranges and icy fjords by Geir Hartly Andreassen. I was staggered to find out that Thomas Gullestad who plays the central role of Baalsrud, is normally a hip hop artist and not a trained actor in any professional sense. Though he doesn't have a huge number of lines to rattle off, he is incredibly convincing in demonstrating the enormous physical and psychological challenges Baalsrud had to overcome in surviving situations, he really didn't have any right to survive. Likewise, Irishman Jonathan Rhys Meyers' impressive German-speaking turn as Col. Kurt Stage, the Gestapo officer obsessed with tracking Baalsrud down, provides a villain whose rage simmers under a rigid surface rather than bursting into stereotypical tantrums.
The film is by no means perfect. At a lumbering 135 minutes it's overlong. I feel the imagined delusional scenes and conversations with a ghostly doppelgänger are just overkill. Similarly the extended sequences of confinement in his ice cave and "The Hotel Savoy" could have been much more tightly edited, rather than being allowed to drag on to the point of near tedium. However for those sticking around to the end, I have to say that the crossing into neutral Sweden is brilliantly conceived and choreographed, supposedly (just about) true and incredibly emotionally uplifting. It even almost makes some sense given the part of the world in which it took place. The 12th Man is well worth a look.
- spookyrat1
- Jul 6, 2019
- Permalink
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Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $9,567,121
- Runtime2 hours 15 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1