The King's Choice (2016)

My main feeling after seeing this movie, which covers the first few days of the second world war in Norway, is that I would like to see the movie continue all the way through the war.

While the performances are all great, and the locations used, the costumes, the recreations of Oslo and the soundtrack all contributed into making this an excellent movie - the highlight was how this story was told and the movie cut together. If you don't like inter titles, you won't like this movie. Every scene is introduced with location, date and time. And it works. I didn't always pay much attention to it, but the moments it chooses all feel like real moments in the story, the important highlights of actions performed by the people involved.

I do appreciate that they also spread their focus a bit wider than just the royal family. The German diplomat was an interesting character, trying his best to get a handle on a terrible situation, and doing a good (though futile) job. The young men on the front line are portrayed in a way that really shows the horrors of war on an ultimately inexperienced crowd. But the main story here is that of the royal family, who is made to seem more human than any other depiction I have seen of them, including most documentaries. They are not people born into a stoic calm, but rather people born into a job that at its worst can be really difficult and pressing.

The critique of this movie is mostly about what it is not: a new perspective. Again, you follow the heroes of the war, the people we shouldn't forget (and haven't forgotten). While I completely agree with the people wanting something new, this has little to do with this movie.