“I have five drawers in my head. The three top drawers I open all the time. Draw number four I open less often. I closed the bottom drawer May 8th 1945, and haven’t opened it since.” So begins Number 24 (NR24), a Norwegian espionage thriller set in World War 2 that opened the Scandinavian Film Festival in Sydney.
Directed by John Andreas Anderson (Uno, North Sea), it tells the true story of Gunnar Sønsteby, a young accountant who joins the resistance movement after Norway is occupied by the Germans and becomes a national hero. Given the code-name Number 24 by British intelligence, Sønsteby risks capture, torture and execution to sabotage the German war effort, owing his success to careful planning and preparation. Soon he finds himself in charge of a resistance cell called the ‘Oslo Gang’ and wanted by the Germans.
The story is told through an episodic series of flashbacks as an older Sønsteby (Erik Hivju) gives a lecture to a group of schoolchildren. The symbolic passing of knowledge and experience from the older generation to the young is used as a reminder not to forget these stories. Torture and interrogation are shown with brutal detail to drive home not only the risks faced by the resistance, but also the sacrifices made by real people that this movie is about.
Children in the lecture confront Sønsteby with questions regarding the ethics of killing, not only Germans but fellow Norwegians, and he explains that he did what had to be done, and it’s hard to understand without having experienced war for yourself. In the current global climate of conflict across the world, it’s a poignant reminder that life and ethics are very different during war.
The wartime Sønsteby is played by Sjur Vatne Brean, giving a strong portrayal of a man who must learn to kill without prejudice in order to perform his duty. Both Brean and Hivju have a striking resemblance to each other, convincingly playing the very young and very old Sønsteby respectively. The cinematography is strong and gives a clear sense of two different periods in history, with the modern day shot like a documentary that convincingly beds in the reality of the story.
The action scenes in World War 2 are grand and explosive, with a huge scale and a great amount of detail for historical accuracy. You can tell the script was written by a historian and journalist (Espen Lauritzen von Ibenfeldt and Erland Joe) based on the biography by Petter Johannessen. Number 24 was a strong start to a great festival packed with fantastic cinema that I Highly recommend you attend.
The Scandinavian Film Festival is currently on across Australia until mid-August. Check ScandinavianFilmFestival.com for more information.
To book tickets to Number 24, please visit https://scandinavianfilmfestival.com/films/sca25-number-24.
