Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2017 Norwegian historical drama film called,
The 12th Man. Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
The movie begins during World War II, wherein the German Nazis occupy Norway while Hitler
also establishes “Festung Norweigen.” Then, upon colonizing the country, the German War Machine
moves to the Far North as the allied convoys eventually suffer enormous losses from the battle.
Meanwhile, in the country of Scotland during 1943, British Forces ordered
training for the Norwegian soldiers to carry out the vital sabotage missions in Norway.
Afterward, the Major Officer talks to a Sergeant, asking the whereabouts of the Commander Officer.
So, the Sergeant points out the location while the Major Officer follows the direction.
Upon narrating the story, the film states about the launching of Operation Martin on March 24,
wherein twelve Norwegian resistance fighters set on board a fishing boat with eight tons of
TNT as they sail for Norway. Their mission is to sabotage German airfields and installations,
which means the fighters will destroy the facilities. However, the narrator indicates
that only one man came back alive from their mission, while the rest got killed by Nazis.
Going back to the Major Officer, as soon as he finds the Commander Officer,
he then says that he will pick up the report from Lieutenant Jan Baalsrud. Afterward, the
Major Officer sees Jan facing the oceanic scenery while hugging the most secret files in his body.
In London, a news report on the radio talks about the people in Norway are wondering what
the mood must be like in England, implicating the suffering they are facing upon witnessing
the invasion of German Nazis in their country. However, the reporter replies with complete
conviction about his answer despite the situation, saying that their nerves are delicate and their
morale is far from weakened. And instead of giving discouragement, he reassures the listeners that
they are becoming stronger with every passing day. A while later, Jan, a member of the twelve
Norwegian resistance fighters, tries rescuing his comrade, Perr, amid the cold sea as they attempt
to escape from the German Nazis who are shooting them from afar. Unfortunately, their mission gets
into trouble soon after reaching Norway, wherein their local contact is long dead. Because of that,
the German sympathizer informs the Germans about their arrival,
resulting in unleashing the Norwegian resistance fighters’ real identity as they get compromised.
Luckily, Jan and Perr safely walk upon the fjord and immediately hide from the German Nazis.
However, Jan suddenly witnesses his crew dying at the hands of the Germans by shooting one of them
mercilessly. To his surprise, one of the German soldiers sees Per then points the gun behind
his head as he walks backward to join the line of the arrested Norwegian resistance fighters.
While watching his comrade walk away, Jan suddenly receives the last message from him,
reminding him to make sure that their mission is not all in vain.
Meanwhile, one of the German soldiers takes the briefcase near the fjord and gives it to
Colonel Walther Wenders, who is taking his time rounding up the remaining ten resistance fighters
on the beach. Afterward, Sigurd asks one of the Norwegian fighters what’s inside the bag, yet he
answers that he doesn’t know about it. Suddenly, upon interrogating, Walther sees Jan running away
from them. Unfortunately, Jan gets shot from the foot upon running, yet he still manages to escape.
On the first day of torment by German Nazis, the cold water runs down Jan’s arm as he takes
out the boots to cover the wound from his foot that gets shot using socks. Afterward, he sees
the fire blowing up in the skies, telling him that the German warship eventually locates their
fishing boat in the sea. So, Jan immediately swims across the fjord in sub-zero temperatures to hide.
After a while, Jan shakingly walks as his beard shows no longer brown but white ice-crystals, as
are his eyebrows. Luckily, he receives assistance from locals, risking their lives to help Jan hide
from the Germans. Afterward, Jan explains that he only needs warmth to stop his body from shaking,
then says that if German comes to their home, tell that Jan threatened to kill them. Then, as they
talk, Anna’s son suddenly enters the room. So, Jan asks about the direction on the way to Tromsøya.
Meanwhile, Sigurd takes the remaining Norwegian resistance fighters in Tromsøya to execute.
Afterward, Herr Sturmbannführer arrives to open the briefcase that German soldiers got
on the fjord. As he takes out the documents, he orders his men to translate what’s on the papers.
Then, upon counting the prisoners, he suddenly asks the whereabouts of the twelfth man,
who is Jan, and says that the Germans are supposed to capture twelve fighters in the fjord.
To Herr’s dismay, he orders Walthers to search every house in the area and focus
on people with medical knowledge, assuming that Jan’s still alive.
Then, Jan, on the other hand, luckily gets to a shore to reach Tromsøya with the help of Anna’s
son. Afterward, a midwife suddenly helps him on curing his injured foot. She reminds Jan to take
himself to the hospital or won’t have many days left as she heals it. Jan then takes out his map
as the woman asks him where he is heading right before the German soldiers reach their location.
Unfortunately, while searching for Jan, two of the Norwegian resistance fighters already died
from the torment of German Nazis while being interrogated. Then, Herr, on the other hand,
proves that Jan survives from cold water as he puts himself in the sea for over twenty minutes.
Later, Jan reaches the Karanes to get help from the midwife’s son.
Then, upon reaching his house, he reveals that he escapes from the hands of the Germans
and is about to save his crew. Afterward, Gudrun, a nurse at a hospital, helps Jan finally cure his
injury to walk properly during his travels. After a while, Jan finally sets on foot to
Tromsøya, but he asks Gudrun about the information she knows before he leaves.
So, Gudrun answers without hesitation, saying that the Germans found his secret documents
and began to mass arrest the people living in Norway. While listening, Jan eventually receives
news about his crew, Sigurd, who gets tortured to death, and Erik Reichelt, who’s still alive.
Then the rest are going to execute later at night. After a while, Jan changes his plan,
telling Margareth, Gudrun’s daughter, that he will not be able to help his crew anymore to
escape and will take his route on the way to Sweden instead. Jan then says that Sweden is
what they call a neutral country, and for sure, he will be safe once he gets there.
The night comes, and the Norwegian resistance officers will execute already. As they fall
in line, Walther, on the other hand, attempts mocking Herr by saying that Jan, the twelfth man,
is already dead and that the Reich Main Security Office is contacting him for the report.
Yet, Herr is still eager to believe that Jan is alive. And while Walther is busy convincing Herr
about Jan, the officers suddenly sing their anthem while waiting for their execution.
The following day, Jan arrives at his next stop, the house of a local fisherman named
Adam Schmitt. Afterward, Adam assists him on the fishing boat to escape Rebbenesøya.
Then, upon reaching the ship, he checks his injured foot when
suddenly Adam appears to give his backpack, skis, food, and extra clothes for his trip.
Luckily, Adam also offers Jan a uniform to hide once he gets to Lyngseidet.
Afterward, Adam plans to avoid the Germans from seeing him while traveling to Lyngseidet.
While Adam’s talking, he reminds Jan to be careful of a professional German soldier named Kurt Stage,
who’s also believing that Jan’s alive. He then says that no one has escaped from him before,
and for sure, Kurt will never let a saboteur like Jan getaway. So, if Jan makes it over to Sweden,
it will be a crushing defeat for Kurt. Meanwhile, Herr finally accepts that they
captured the twelve Norwegian resistance officers and orders his man to type his letter and send it
to Berlin as soon as possible. To Walther’s surprise, he praises Herr for his decision.
A while later, Jan finally arrives at the shore on his way to Lyngseidet. But before
Jan leaves the beach, a fisherman reminds him that there’s a boat waiting for him on the other side,
and he must leave it adrift so that no one will know where he goes ashore. Then, once Jan crosses
the mountain, Jan will finally reach the border. However, it will take him two to three days,
especially if the weather holds up, but luckily, he gets skis to stand a chance of escaping.
On the seventh day of escaping from Lyngseidet, Jan almost gets seized by Herr as he slides
himself while skiing. Luckily, Herr fails to recognize Jan and lets him proceed on his way,
not until he realizes his identity. To Jan’s surprise, he suddenly sees
a military plane and tries shooting him. Then upon escaping, an avalanche eventually occurs
after the constantly shooting on the mountain. Unfortunately, Jan undergoes severe pain after
getting covered by the avalanche’s snow. Meanwhile, Herr gets a report from his
soldier about his tracks in Lyngseidet and his possibility of being alive.
Afterward, he walks towards one of his soldiers, whom he ordered to send the letter to Berlin.
With blood on his eyes, Jan tries to crawl out of the snow as he reaches the border.
Luckily, he escapes immediately, right before the two German Nazis get to his location. Afterward,
Jan eventually feels the hallucination of talking to himself while walking amid Lyngseidet forest.
Unfortunately, the German Nazis recover some of Jan’s stuff that he leaves behind.
Meanwhile, Marius Grønvoll sees Jan walking towards them while the German sympathizer
interrogates him about Jan. Marius then refuses to tell anything and lets the German sympathizer and
its soldier leave their farm. Afterward, Marius and Gudrun immediately approach Jan to treat him.
On the thirteenth day of surviving on Grønvoll farm, Jan wakes up with Gudrun beside him.
While Jan removes the cloth covering his eyes, Gudrun says he’s talking while asleep.
So, Jan reveals that he has vital information that the Germans must never get, and it would
be better if Gudrun didn’t know about anything. Suddenly, Herr and his men arrive at the Grønvoll
farm to check Jan for the second time. Upon checking, Herr almost found Jan in the hayloft,
but luckily, Jan successfully hides his body using the haystack.
Afterward, the Grønvoll family puts Jan in a ski as they move him out and lure the soldier
as they put him on the boat. Fortunately, Marius successfully drives Jan to another mountain.
After, Marius leaves Jan in a tiny shelter and lets Jan rest. However, Jan is still struggling
to help himself get up due to his injuries. One day, while Jan is resting in his shelter,
he suddenly gets a nightmare about him getting captured by the German Nazis.
Then, as he wakes up, he sluggishly opens the door to check if there are people outside. However,
it seems like his dream is playing with him as he repetitively wakes up from different nightmares.
Unfortunately, Jan suffers from vicious dreams the whole night, giving him the thoughts of cutting
his injured finger foot to end his suffering. On the twenty-sixth day, upon reaching the Savoy
Hotel, Marius and his men get back to Jan’s shelter to deliver the news about the way to
get him to Sweden. Feeling bliss, Jan excitedly prepares himself while watching Marius and his
men build the slay for him. Afterward, Jan receives a soup to take him on his trip.
While Marius prepares himself, he tells Jan that someone from Manndalen town will meet them to help
Jan get across the border. Despite the hardship of getting Jan with the slay on the steep mountains,
Marius and his men successfully take Jan to Manndalen. However, Marius fails to meet the
people who will help Jan in the big rock and leaves him no choice but to go as they need
to hurry back home. Though, before leaving Jan, Marius hides him under the big rock.
Afterward, Marius informs Jan that the Manndalen boys will use the “Hello,
Gentleman” code to find him. Night comes, Jan begins freezing as
the weather holds up, yet he manages to survive after watching the aurora borealis in the sky.
One day, one of the Manndalen boys informs Marius that they made a mistake in finding Jan. Instead
of going to the stone in Olmmaivaggi, they went to Olmmaijarvi. To Marius’ dismay, he tells Gudrun
that he will mark the stone himself and find Jan together with Agnete to nurse Jan. Then, upon
reaching the stone, they see Jan alive and still breathing. So, Agnete immediately treats him while
Marius marks the spot. Afterward, Jan sends regard to Gudrun as Marius and Agnete leave him again.
On the thirty-sixth day of escaping from the Germans, the Manndalen boys finally arrive at the
“gentleman rock” and rescue Jan. Afterward, Migo wakes Jan, saying that he will take him to Sweden.
Then, despite the wintry weather in the mountain, Migo and the boys successfully deliver Jan to a
safe place to rest as they accidentally get hit by a blizzard. However, Jan begins to panic after
knowing that they turned back, so Migo explains that they have seen Germans near the border.
While resting, Aslak Fossvoll suddenly appears to cure John’s injured foot.
Then, upon treating his injury, Jan suddenly tells the story of Norwegian resistance fighters
and how the German Nazis fire their fishing boat to kill them. Jan also reveals that they ignite
the TNT and jump into the water near the fjord. Yet, no one survives from the Germans except him.
Luckily, some locals discreetly visit Jan in the cave to feed him every day as he waits for
the snow to melt so that the Manndalen boys can finally take him to Sweden. Afterward,
Jan asks how they will pull him across on a sled, so Migo says they aren’t sure if he’s strong
enough. Eager to escape from the Germans, Jan assures Migo that he’s capable of helping himself.
Later, Migo gets a cue from a Sami that they better move
Jan immediately before the Germans get him. On the fifty-ninth day of surviving in the cave,
Migo finally takes out Jan and puts him on the sled. Afterward, Migo and Aslak eventually see
reindeer scattering across the wintry field, giving them the idea to make a new plan by tying
the rope in one of the strongest reindeer. That way, Jan can reach the border quickly.
On the sixty-third day, Herr eventually finds out the hiding spot of Jan on the shore of Manndalen.
Because of that, he orders his men to torture Gudrun and Marius to help the fugitive Jan escape.
However, on the other hand, Jan accidentally loses the tied rope on the reindeer,
making his sled unleash and stop in the middle of the snowfield.
The movie ends with Jan trying to kill himself as he thinks of getting captured by the Germans,
yet his reindeer comes back for him and runs away from the field.
Luckily, Jan successfully saves himself from the German Nazis, while Herr, on the other hand, fails
on his mission to kill all the twelve Norwegian resistance fighters. Then, three months later, Jan
gives his secret files to the Major Commander and trains the recruits until Norway gets liberated.