Few actors command the screen like Mads Mikkelsen. Known for his villains and antiheroes, Mikkelsen has tackled roles across nearly every genre. He’s played Bond villains, rogue archaeologists and even Hannibal Lecter. However, one of his most dramatic performances remains largely overlooked. Released in 2008, Flame and Citron is a war film that takes a different approach to the genre.

Based on true events, Flame and Citron is a film that refuses to feed the audience easy answers. Instead, it asks uncomfortable questions about duty, principles and survival, exposing the weaknesses of those who resist. But, despite its critical success, Flame and Citron remains relatively overlooked outside of Denmark. However, with its incredible performances, themes of resistance and art-house film status, it stands as one of the most unique WWII films ever made.

Flame and Citron Is One of the Largest Productions in the History of Danish Cinema

Flame and Citron follows the lives of two Danish resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. Operating in secrecy, Bent Faurschou Hviid (Thure Lindhardt), known as Flame, and Jørgen Haagen Schmith (Mikkelsen), known as Citron, carry out targeted assassinations against Nazi collaborators and enemy officers. Their missions are orchestrated by Aksel Winther (Peter Mygind), a high-ranking officer in the Danish resistance, who claims to be acting under orders from the government-in-exile.

However, as their assignments become increasingly risky, they begin to question the true motives of those giving the orders. Their work puts them at constant risk, not just from the Gestapo but from potential informants within their own ranks. With the resistance under attack and their mission growing more dangerous, Flame and Citron must decide who they can trust – and how far they are willing to go in their fight for Denmark’s freedom.

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Flame and Citron War Film Without Heroes

Heroism is an illusion in Flame and Citron. Bent Faurschou Hviid and Jørgen Haagen Schmith are celebrated as resistance icons today, but Ole Christian Madsen’s film refuses to mythologize them. Instead, it strips away the romance of rebellion, exposing the reality of their work: assassinations carried out in back rooms, orders passed down through channels, and the suspicion that they might not be fighting for the right people.

Flame is the executioner, young and reckless, with a gun always within reach. He’s a man who believes in his mission with a near-religious passion, but that conviction starts to crack as the bodies pile up. Citron is different. Unlike his partner, he’s falling apart, sweating, shaking and suffocating under the weight of what they’ve done. He doesn’t pull the trigger, but he’s no less guilty. By the time the film reaches its climax, both men are ghosts of themselves, hollowed out by paranoia, exhaustion and the realization that they are expendable pieces in someone else’s war.

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The real-life Flame and Citron operated under orders from the Holger Danske resistance, a loosely structured group that targeted Nazi officials and Danish collaborators. The film’s portrayal of their missions is largely accurate. Flame was one of Denmark’s most wanted men, while Citron’s role as his partner and getaway driver made him equally infamous. They were effective, but their work was far from clean. But where Flame and Citron takes creative liberties is in the details of their downfall. The film suggests they were manipulated by men within the resistance who had their own agendas. Historically, Flame was ultimately cornered by the Gestapo and chose suicide over capture, and Citron was gunned down in a shootout shortly after. Whether they were sold out by their own side remains unclear, but the film leans into the idea that they were never truly in control of their fate.

However, that’s what makes Flame and Citron stand apart from the general war genre. The film isn’t about sacrifice or patriotic glory but about men trapped in a war that offered them no way out. Their legacy is one of defiance, but also futility. They fought, they killed, and in the end, they died. Not as heroes, but as casualties of a resistance that was as dangerous as the enemy they opposed.

Mads Mikkelsen Gives His Most Tragic Performance in Flame and Citron

Mads Mikkelsen is no stranger to playing broken men. From Le Chiffre in Casino Royale to Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal, Mikkelson brings elegance to characters teetering on the edge. But Flame and Citron strips his performance down to something unlike his previous roles. Citron is an exhausted man running on fumes. His body is failing him, his hands shake and he sweats through his clothes. Unlike Flame, Citron looks like a man who already knows how his story ends.

Citron is the opposite of the stereotypical war hero. He is desperate and the weight of his actions holds him down. Unlike the boldness of his partner, Citron’s hesitations speak volumes about the toll the war has taken on him. But the real tragedy of Citron in Flame and Citron lies in his internal collapse, the crumbling of a man who once had a life outside of resistance. He’s a family man who has been torn away from any semblance of normalcy, his humanity swallowed by the necessity of his role in the Danish resistance. By the end, Mikkelsen depicts a man who’s no longer sure who he is or what he’s fighting for. There’s no triumph in Citron’s story, only the heartbreaking reality of a man who understands his fate but is forced to keep moving forward anyway.

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Flame and Citron isn’t a completely accurate portrayal of Citron, but rather a reflection of his torment. The real Citron was a man of action, known for his efficiency in carrying out his missions. He was a reliable resistance fighter, but there is little indication in historical accounts of the kind of psychological effects that Mikkelsen’s portrayal suggests. The film expands the mental strain on Citron for dramatic effect, making his story more moving and more tortured. While Citron’s real-life legacy is undeniably one of sacrifice and resilience, Flame and Citron emphasize his vulnerability in the face of a war that demands too much from him.

But this distinction doesn’t diminish Citron’s heroism but rather underscores the personal cost of his actions. Mikkelson depicts a man who is as much a victim of the war as the enemy he fights. Not only is Citron a symbol of resistance, but a man caught in the tragedy of war. A man who becomes the very thing he despises in order to survive.

Ultimately, Flame and Citron is a deconstruction of what it means to be a hero. It rejects the glorification that often accompanies war films, opting instead to expose the realities faced by those who resist. And, while the film does certain creative liberties for dramatic effect, it’s a relatively accurate look at the real-life resistance fighters who lost everything to a system that later discarded them. Flame and Citron pulls no punches and deserves its moment in the spotlight as one of the greatest WWII films of all time.