This film tells the story of a small group of young boy German soldiers and a lone Danish sergeant who was charged with the task of ensuring it was done.
The Danish promised the the 'boys' that they could go back to Germany when the task was completed but ultimately squelched on the deal (in this sub-drama). The sergeant started out as a bitter man (who we see being cruel and abusive to other German soldiers before he is assigned his group) changing as time went on and he got to realise that they were just boys.
The message depicted here was that whatever the Germans had done to other people during the war, it was surely not right to treat these boys with the same inhumanity, thus making the Danish authorities and people as wicked as the Nazis, in the name of revenge, on an individual basis.
It's harrowing to watch at times as we are shown some catastrophic incidents relating to the boys, also starving, beaten and abused in the mix. We get to know the boys, children - human beings all, who were, no doubt, forced from their childhood by the Germans anyway to go and serve. According to the captioning at the end of the film, of the 2000 soldiers involved only half survived death or severe injury.
It's as tastefully shot as it could be, given the subject matter and the cinematography, clearly low-budget as it is, benefits hugely from the open beaches, shoreline and vast open spaces. Very well acted by the cast, portraying the bleak, intensity of the situation.
I'm not convinced that the drama surrounding this particular group of individuals is true, more probably a fictionalised account rooted in the historic facts of the scenario. It's on Mubi just now and some other streaming platforms to rent/buy. Well worth a viewing if you can get it.
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