One gets the impression of a unique human being in the debutant director Morten Meldgaard's collage portrait of the Danish freedom fighter Kim Malthe-Bruun, who was captured and executed by the Nazis at the end of the Second World War. But as a surviving relative says about him: "He was a human being among human beings, not a saint in the underground." This is worth remembering, as it was precisely the thought of human dignity and equality that made the young sailor decide to stay on land and join the resistance movement. The story of Kim is told by his sister, his war-time girlfriend as well as through the letters and diaries he left behind, which were later published and now enjoy the status of a modern classic. One can sense the increasing commitment in the young man's mature and well-formulated thoughts about freedom and responsibility, and hearing his last lines from the death row of Vestre Fængsel is a harrowing experience. But, above all, the film is a life-affirming story about the struggle for freedom in a world which is larger than oneself.
