When you think of a war hero, you no doubt imagine a dashing young soldier, facing off the enemy in the heat of battle. You are perhaps less inclined to think of a cardigan-wearing, paper-shuffling bureaucrat in a basement office that reeks of sewage. However, this is exactly the hero that Netflix gives us in the fantastic new biopic, The Swedish Connection, which details how a lawyer for the Foreign Ministry, Gösta Engzell, saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Second World War by giving them free passage to Sweden.

The Swedish Connection – The Directors

The film is co-written and co-directed by Thérèse Ahlbeck and Marcus Olsson. Ahlbeck is a film director, screenwriter and journalist and her work includes the TV series Happy Street. This film marks her feature-length debut. 

Olsson has previously directed the likes of The Sandhamn Murders, Orka! Orka!, Ett enklare liv and Fjällbackamorden: Havet ger, havet tar. This, too, is his feature-length debut. 

The Swedish Connection – The Cast

• Gösta Engzell – Henrik Dorsin (Triangle of Sadness)
• Rut Vogl – Sissela Benn (Trouble) 
• Staffan Söderström – Jonas Karlsson (Koka Björn) 
• Stina Johansson – Marianne Mörck (Bonus Family) 
• Göran Von Otter – Johan Glans (Mirakel) 
• Dag Hammarskjöld – Christoffer Nordenrot (Kronprinsen som försvann) 
• Claes Westring – Figge Norling (A Very Nearly Normal Family) 
• Marcus Ehrenpreis – Loa Falkman (Vårdgården) 
• Adolf Eichmann – Joshua Seelenbinder (1899) 

The Swedish Connection – Our Review 

The film opens in 1942, with Sweden retaining its strictly neutral status during World War Two. Two fishermen believe they see a Nazi invasion on the horizon and, even by polite Nordic standards, all hell breaks loose. Chaotic jazz pulsates through the screen; panic fills the small coastal village bracing for attack; frenzied phone calls are made to government departments; mustard yellow titles reveal names, locations and job titles. You could be forgiven for thinking you were watching an Armando Iannucci film. 

Whilst this proves to be a false alarm – phew – we are introduced to our unlikely hero, Gösta Engzell. “He’s a nobody,” a raspy baritone voiceover teases. “But stay tuned to see what a nobody can do.” Engzell, we quickly learn, cannot start his car; he needs his wife to crank the engine. He cries as he reads The Little Match Girl to his son. His colleagues leave the room when he speaks up at a meeting because he is seen as so unimportant. And yet, this “by the book” believer in diplomacy ends up changing the course of Scandinavian history. 

Henrik Dorsin is brilliant in the lead role. His mannerisms are precise; pedantic. Exactly what you would expect from a softly-spoken man driven by paperwork. His passion for his job – and his genuine belief in the laws he upholds – shape him. He cannot bring himself to offer Nazi salutes or “play politics”.

Sissela Benn breathes efficiency and care into Uta Vogl, her work ethic and determination rivalling only Engzell himself. Their dynamic is easy and gentle; a real pleasure to watch. Jonas Karlsson is perfectly odious as Staffan Söderström, a man who would happily sell out his own country and the Jewish people as he crawls his way up the ladder. His belief in a German victory puts him at odds with Engzell and their conflict fuels a lot of the drama. 

Ahlbeck and Olsson also do a great job with the pacing. There is a constant feeling of pressure; of running out of time. Dialogue is quickfire and the score ticks away like minutes on a clock, underlining Engzell’s fear that he is running out of time. And, whilst the Iannucci-esque opening gives way to a more complex, moral drama, there is still a lightness of touch throughout.

Indeed, despite this being a film about a dark period in recent history, it is remarkably bright and buoyant. Governmental offices are warm sage greens and gold trims; costuming looks cosy and autumnal. It’s only really when we see the offices of the Nazis that we are cloaked in shadowy greys. Even now, seeing the stark red swastika banners hanging off buildings or on armbands is enough to make you jolt as a viewer. 

There are moments to make you laugh and moments designed to shock. The Swedish Connection does a good job of balancing both. It’s a film about quiet courage, of doing the right thing even when it is difficult. It’s a lesson for our time. You may be a bit teary-eyed by the time the credits roll around but, ultimately, you will be uplifted and in awe at how “ordinary people can defy history and make a difference.” 

“There are moments to make you laugh and moments designed to shock. The Swedish Connection does a good job of balancing both. It’s a film about quiet courage, of doing the right thing even when it is difficult. It’s a lesson for our time“

The Swedish Connection is available on Netflix globally from the 19th February