This post contains spoilers for "Narvik: Hitler's First Defeat."

While "All Quiet on the Western Front" is getting all the awards season love, becoming a surprise Oscar contender after a relatively quiet festival run in 2022, there is another European war movie making strides on Netflix. I'm talking about "Narvik: Hitler's First Defeat," the thrilling 2022 Norwegian war drama focusing on the pivotal Battle of Narvik at the beginning of World War II. Dubbed the first Allied victory, the battle was a significant chapter in the course of the war, and the film does a good job of showing why it was important, and how both sides responded.

Perhaps more importantly, the film excels at portraying the effects of the war on the civilians of the eponymous Norwegian town, forcing them to fend for themselves while opposing forces use them for their own benefit (without a care for those caught in the middle). But while the film is a fine summary of the battle and its importance and impact, the true story behind the movie is even more fascinating and tragic. Let's break it down.

It's All About That Iron

"Narvik" follows the Toftes, a young Norwegian married couple from Narvik. Ingrid (Kristine Hartgen) works at the town's biggest hotel while her husband Gunnar (Carl Martin Eggesbø) is a corporal in the army, and the two have a young son. With World War II raging on, Norway has declared its neutrality, but that doesn't mean much to either side, who are quite interested in Narvik's usefulness as a port in the North Atlantic that doesn't freeze during winter, and can be used to transport iron ore from Sweden.

For Germany, this would mean resources to build their arsenal, and for Britain, it would mean cutting the enemy off their supply. Trying to play both sides, an early scene shows the town's mayor meeting with delegates from Britain and Germany to discuss a neutral agreement to supply the iron to each of them without conflict. Unsurprisingly, however, neutrality is hard to maintain in wartime, especially once German military forces invade the town. In a harrowing scene, the Narvik garrison comes across German soldiers in the dark, pointing guns at them. The Nazi general shouts that they better surrender because they have no chance, and the Norwegian colonel surrenders his forces without resistance — in real life, that same colonel was actually a Nazi sympathizer.

The excuse is that the Germans are here to "protect" Norway's neutrality against aggression from the British. This is April 9, 1940, the start of the German occupation of Norway, which was mostly a means of securing the iron ore supply. Quickly, the German forces overrun the town and set up a base at the Toftes' hotel and nearby buildings, forcing the civilians out of their homes while serving smiles and pretenses about paying compensation for the disturbance.

Not A Short Campaign

With the change of the colonel's allegiance, "Narvik" gives him a more heroic purpose, as his surrender allows him to take his troops out of the town and discreetly plan the reconquest of Narvik. First, he has Gunnar blow up the train tracks that go through the town to stop the iron transport for the Nazi war machine, then he joins the resistance. In real life, the train track was not destroyed, and instead served a critical role for both sides, allowing Germany to transport supplies and soldiers via neutral Sweden, and Norway to transport soldiers by train (also via Sweden to avoid Nazi patrols).

With the Norwegian troops out of Narvik, it is the British that try to take down the German fleet stationed at the nearby Ofotfjord, and manage to defeat the Nazi fleet. In the film, Gunnar is taken prisoner for a few weeks, and only escapes when French and Polish troops arrive in Norway for the counterattack.

In reality, troops from France, the U.K., and Poland joined the Norwegian Army for several battles in the area surrounding Narvik all throughout May. The Allied troops severely outnumbered the Germans, and they started advancing and defeating the Germans they faced on the way to the town. However, due to differences in command, Norway still acted independently and neutral from the Allies — meaning, there was never a unified plan of how to retake the railway.

At the same time, we also follow the civilians living in Narvik during the occupation. Ingrid is forced to work for the Germans as an interpreter, while also helping hide the British consul. It becomes clear that, for the neutral civilians of Narvik, both belligerent forces are bad.

Difficult Choices

You see, the Germans smile as they force the Norwegians out of their homes, while the British help mostly by bombarding the town, killing plenty of civilians and destroying their homes. Worse yet, Ingrid is blackmailed by the British into spying on the Germans and providing the very coordinates that allow the British to airstrike the town, which results in Ingrid's father-in-law dying, and her son being hit by grenade shrapnel. This forces Ingrid to make an impossible choice, and sell out the British consul to the Germans in exchange for medical help to save her son.

Unfortunately, talk about Ingrid being a Nazi collaborator (as well as a favorite of the Nazi commander) quickly spread around town, and she makes the choice to leave Narvik to avoid becoming a pariah. Even her husband, once they are reunited, snaps at her and calls her a traitor for her actions of helping the enemy. But for Ingrid, there was no ally and enemy, just outsiders destroying the town. The Germans took their homes, but the British killed them.

A Short-Lived Victory

By the end of May, 1940, it became clear that the Germans would be driven out of the country and victory was at sight. Sadly, the taste of victory would be bittersweet in retrospect. At the same time, the invasion of France was raging on, the British government had decided to evacuate London, and other battles across Europe took precedence in the eyes of the Allies. The decision was made to evacuate all Allied forces from the port of Narvik after it was retaken.

On June 8, 1940, the Norwegian and Allied forces had successfully freed the town of Narvik and secured the port, but not unscathed. As the film shows, the Germans decided to bombard the town after their troops had left, destroying much of it — though a big part of the town had already been evacuated, with Patrick Dalzel-Job (who some believe to be the inspiration for James Bond) organizing the evacuation. When the Allies fully retreated from Norway, the victory on Narvik became short-lived. With the Allies gone, the country was left to fend for itself, allowing Germany to consolidate the occupation of Norway shortly thereafter. Still, it made for a compelling movie!

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The post The Fascinating True Story Behind Narvik appeared first on /Film.