Beyond the Border (2011)

Just perfect...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

best movie i've ever seen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

You can tell that Sweden has not been at war for 200+ years. All the Swedish soldiers are wimps that have to show how scared they are at all times. It gets rather tedious. The only real hero is a Finnish origin soldier that had killed 100+ Russians. He is the only old-fashioned hero. All the Germans seem to be sadists. Another cliché. In contrast, we have the Swedish soldiers discussing about Hitler's plan for the Jews. Come on; some countryside 18 year olds in 1942 talking about the Jews? Not realistic. That so much playing to a modern audience as opposed to remaining somewhat authentic. The film also plays to a modern audience by having a soldier pet his pregnant girlfriend's tummy. Sweden is a small country so it is important to get the female audience as well.I would not recommend this film. Instead watch the Danish Flame And Citron or the Norwegian Max Manus. These countries where attacked during WW2 and their soldiers show a much more aggressive demeanor. Their heroes are allowed to be good. They have meaningful tasks to accomplish. These two films has a strong narrative that pushes the films forward. The Swedish film pretty much lacks a narrative, except a big rather meaningless shoot-out in the end of the film (another conventional trick). I get the feeling that the director wants to show the horrors of war. The Swedes had a chance to make a traditional action movie, but blew it totally.

I wish I had read some review of this movie before I bought it on Blu-ray. Boy, what a waste of good money! As a previous reviewer stated, I really was looking forward to a Swedish war movie. Perhaps the first of its kind to be made. As a Swede who have only heard my dad speak vaguely about what it was like to live in Sweden during the German occupation of Norway, I was looking for some portrayal of what it was like. As well as some good old-fashioned action of course!However, I can only agree with previous reviewer that the characters acted so amateurishly and so unconvincingly stupid that I ended up swearing to myself during the whole movie. They must have slept right through their entire basic training. A seven-year-old who had played any computer war game would have picked them off one by one.As an example: Who would be stupid enough, when pursued by German patrols in a foreign, occupied country, to light a fire in a cabin's fireplace and a number of kerosene lamps without shading the windows? Not posting any guard outside to warn of approaching enemy soldiers or even having their firearms within easy reach? They don't event seem vigilant but seem to be writing postcards. One guy even goes to the privy without his gun or helmet.At the end, I almost stood up and applauded when a Swede got shot. I know it sounds horrible to say, but boy, these guys sure had it coming for being so unforgivably stupid as to put the whole country to shame. I hope nobody outside the country watches this or we will be the laughing-stock of the planet for years to come.

It's rare to see a serious Swedish war movie, in part due to the lack modern time battles involving the country. In the second world war the country was officially neutral cornered by conflict on all sides. This movie is about a few Swedish soldiers protecting the border against Nazi occupied Norway. A local major decides to be a bit proactive before the, as he sees it, the inevitable German invasion and sends his border patrol in to Norwegian territory for recognizance and sabotage. The major's main guy is lieutenant Stenström who performs well. But when Stenström's brother carelessly crosses the border and gets captured by the sadistic Nazi captain, it gets personal. Stenström recruits his friend Järvinen, a veteran and legend from the Finnish Winter War, and goes deep into enemy territory to free his brother.I rarely like Swedish movies. Mainly it is because they always seem to aim at being everything, covering every genre, and doing too much with limited resources. But Gränsen is different. It is satisfied with being a war movie, and for its purpose, the resources is covering it well. Actually I am surprised with the approach to action and fighting. It is far too easy to overdo it, but Gränsen balances it very nice (even though there are some questions). There is no humongous battles, or Rambo-like gun fights, but it feels much more realistic and plausible with fighting on a much smaller scale.The story is good as well, even though at two hours it is stretching the material pretty thin. Some scenes or subplots that aren't followed up later, or helps the main plot much, should have been cut. Some of the dialog is a little stiff and a few characters a little annoying. None the less, I liked it. Every movie (with extremely rare exceptions) have faults, and Gränsens' is rather minor. They are easy to forgive.Gränsen is a good, entertaining war movie. It was much better than I expected, especially considering the lack of experience doing movies like this in Sweden. If you like a good war movie, you might want to check this out.7/10

While we Swedes have too endure boring drama films and drama films that pretends to be comedies it's always fun when something unusual pops up. Gränsen or Beyond the Border is one of these films. It follows a realistic and very possible concept of bored Swedish soldiers wanting to see some action and sneaks over the border to Nazi-occupied Norway.For those who don't know, Sweden was one of the few unoccupied democracies left i Europe and everybody where expecting Germany to attack any minute. A couple of fresh recruits skies across the border and stumbles into the execution of a Norwegian rebel. In panic they open fire at the Nazi's and are captured.One of the soldier's brother goes after him along with the stereotypical finish madman/bad-ass and two other Swedish soldiers. A Swedish colonel who is responsible for the soldiers send two marksmen after them to clean it up so he won't be held responsible.There is a lot of heavy war violence, mostly hand to hand combat that end up in gory stabbings. It's in no way tame and one is very disturbing to see. There are some brief shootouts, the budget won't allow more thus we got stabbings instead. We are also treated with some very suspenseful scenes where our Swedish heroes tries to not be seen by the Nazis.The end shootout is probably the coolest in a Swedish film and it ends with one of the most haunting, beautiful and horrific images ever put in a Swedish film. It's also interesting to note that the good guys in the end are made up of one Swede, one Finne and and one Norwegian. At some points in history these nations have been one and the same and now they team up against the Nazis. It's a pretty fun little trivia if you know your history.In the end, Gränsen is a very entertaining Swedish film, I it's not too special from other war films save for that haunting image I mentioned but is worth checking out. More Swedish films like this please.