The Shadow In My Eye (2021)

Title:  Skyggen i mit øje

Year: 2021

Genre: Drama | History | War |

Runtime:  107 min

Director:  Ole Bornedal

Starring: Bertram Bisgaard Enevoldsen, Ester Birch, Fanny Leander Bornedal

7.3/10

On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo’s headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.

A SOMBER LOOK ON WAR

For so many reasons, war is never good yet it’s a fascinating aspect of politics that can either break or shatter states, sovereigns, or societies to the ground. Compared to the Scandinavian region, Sweden was the only public to be spared a direct occupation or conflict from Nazi Germany or the Soviets. This illuminating fact has led to Sweden becoming a beacon of light when war is invading neighboring countries. Denmark was severely damaged by Adolf Hitler’s expansion just like Norway. 

The Shadow In My Eye is a film about children getting bombed in school, filmed in Czech Slovakia is a solemn war picture. There is no apative discourse. There is a solid tension lurking in the darkness, making the cinematography an effort just to watch the film. With its tender, bleak look it thrives decadent on the path ahead. It shows the crucial, grim world that shows a more slumbering story that evolves in barely a hundred minutes. The overall tone is dark and the dialogue with it. The story slowly builds to a crescendo that illuminates a sovereign at war.

The background of each character is not even knee-deep as the story follows two British pilots and a group of children named Henry, Greta, Eva, and Rigmor with a nun and his military boyfriend. The story isn’t complex how the build-up to it still illuminates these ordinary caring people, especially the children when getting bombed, through a fault bombardment. Essentially the wrong target.

The nun Teresa is the caring leading lead on the ground but not enough is shown of her true potential. The horrifying truth of it is that is based on a true event. For a low, to medium budget, the film’s visual effects are believable, mostly thanks to the tension building to the start of the third act. Director Ole Bornedal successfully captures the havoc and turmoil the accidental bombing brings. 

By far, this should be considered to be one of the better World War II films made in Scandinavia. It has an emotional effect on you as an audience unlike any other films during this period. It feels honest in dealing with this matter, a tender view of when a catastrophe hit you dead or buried.