This is a very unusual war movie, especially for our audience. The war between Denmark and Germany lasted less than a day and ended in defeat, so it is extremely unreasonable to expect major heroism and drama, as in similar films of the countries of the winners.
Due to the small scale compared to other theaters of war and the obvious reluctance of the director to get involved in politics, the film has to follow a platoon of cyclists under the guidance of a brave and patriotic sergeant.
The tactics of such a small and exotic unit for our viewer are shown in great detail - taking positions, retreating, moving between points - it is obvious that they tried to squeeze the maximum out of events to make the plot realistic and not boring.
Although sometimes the stick and bend, so the machine gunner manages to stop the armored car of the Nazis, in some way known to him. The director was afraid to release a completely boring movie.
The attitude of the command and local residents raises uncomfortable questions. Knowing about the movement of fascists near the border, the government refuses to bring troops to the defensive lines. As a result, the patriots of the border units put their soldiers to sleep in full gear with weapons.
However, this does not help much, after the death of the first cyclist, the squad retreats. Reinforcements refuse to come to the intended line of defense and dig in on the ground. And the local grandmother helping the soldiers, offers them and even to wait on the hay - it is worth fighting, because 20 years ago there was Germany, and now Denmark to the absolute indifference of local residents.
The shootout in the city was the best. And capitulation is shown as the right way out in this situation. With the brave sergeant around that day, it's hard to argue.
This can be explained by the not so great cultural differences between the opponents and the fact that the Germans obviously did not intend to carve out the local population and take out works of art and fertile soil in cars.
This is a Danish view of the war, and for general development it would be nice to get acquainted with it.