April 9th

This is my first IMDb review. I thought i'd make an effort - because i think this movie deserves a lot more than the 6.8 score it got.

This is a small budget ,non-bombastic ,non-hollywood movie. YET , it managed to capture the eeriness and horror of the first day of WWII for Danmark in a very vivid and realistic way.

All the actors play very well. The photography is very precise and professional. And the events are based on true stories.

what's not to like ? I think its a must watch for true WWII enthusiasts- who'd like to get a new perspective on the northern European theatre of war.

I know a little about April 9th 1940 and the following days in Norway, since I am a Norwegian. But I knew little about what happened in our sister country in the south. We both suffered from ignorant governments that refused to see the reality, even when thrown in their eyes. The Norwegian government managed to flee to England. The Danish did not. This movie is about the average person, serving as a solider, who is drawn into a war before the government realizes there is a war. This movie is about soldiers fighting, without knowing that they have already lost. And this is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. The story-telling, the acting, the filming, ... If you like historical war movies, this is a must-see.

I don't get the so-so reviews. We found this an excellent portrayal of what actually happened, not the excitement of a Pearl Harbor or D-Day Landing. The Danes were so outgunned. Fighting tanks on bicycles?!

Watch this a get a feel for what it meant to be a country that's just a stepping stone for Germany to gain Norway.

Clearly made on a tight budget but well-crafted and acted. If it gets boring, uh, guess what a day of war is like...

An accurate account of some of the skirmishes taking place as German forces crossed into Denmark on 9. April 1940. A sad story about a heavily outnumbered and out-gunned platoon, let down by their politicians and struggling with primitive means to delay the advance of the German army.

The movie successfully conveys the unreal feeling of these soldiers being plummeted into war for unknown reasons and with no proper chance to prepare a defense. Another story about the useless loss of young lives for no good reason. Denmark surrendered after only a few hours, being threatened by German bombers and in no position to give serious resistance. But the few who did fight did so against the worst possible odds, and deserve recognition.

As other reviewers have said here, this movie deserves more than a 6+ rating.

As a war movie, it is fantastic in its depiction of the events in one of the shortest invasions in WW2. Good acting and generally good attention to details (equipment, uniforms, tactics, etc.), in addition to a taut, gripping narrative makes it an engaging historical drama.

The strengths of the movie lie in part on its focus on just one small unit and a couple of related engagements over a period of a few hours, instead of trying to tell a wider story that would have distracted and detracted from the experience.

If there is a weakness, it is that there was very little time for the audience to really get to care about the main characters. Perhaps just a few minutes spent on their backgrounds would have been worthwhile.

I would like to highlight the last scene at the end (NO SPOILER). For those who are familiar with the history of WW2, it brings on goosebumps knowing what is about to happen to the Jews in Europe. Fortunately, most of the Jewish population in Denmark were saved, thanks in large part to the Danish resistance and the Swedish government.

If you are looking for a bloody war movie, this is not it. But if you are looking for a brief glimpse into how men react when faced with impossible odds, then April 9th will not disappoint.