Heavy Water War : Les soldats de l'ombre

A six-episode movie-conceived miniseries (shot apart from Norway mostly in Czech republic) about perhaps the most famous (and from the point of view of the most important point) sabotage of the WWII; Operation Telemark, which confirmed the validity of Murphy's Laws as the course of the operation is hard to believe. The objective of the operation was to stop the production of heavy water used by Germany in attempts to build a reactor for the production of plutonium, but perhaps nothing went according to the original plan... And this series addresses this fascinating milestone from scratch, comprehensively and with regard to historical facts (except for the character of Anna Friel) and does so through three main storylines and numerous black and white characters from both sides. The "scientific" line of Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg, "betrayal" line from the factory after the new manager took office during the occupation, and of course the "saboteur" line itself. None story line is more important and they are all equal. Not only in terms of space, but also in terms of quality (the only drawback is that the second half of the final episode is too quick and brief), although each of them has its own style and themes addressed. And even though there seems to be the risk of the whole show falling apart into three independent lines that play take place in different backyards, the exact opposite is true, since in this way the story lines complement each other. (08/11/2015)

A great and amazingly accurate depiction of a particularly interesting era during the World War II that – surprisingly – involved Norway quite a lot. I won’t begin to describe how accurate and concise the show is because the reviewer Big Bear’s already managed that in their exhausting comment. However, I’d like to add that the Norwegians – no matter how well they can film great stories – have a problem putting some emotions into their main characters. But that’s only a tiny downside of the otherwise perfect show that tells such an interesting story over only five hours. You definitely shouldn’t miss it. (16/11/2017)

I really enjoyed this miniseries. In addition to this operation, Norway was a frequent target of the Commandos, the most famous event probably being the raid on the Lofoten islands. An unexpected bonus that the Allies gained from these raids was that Hitler refused to move part of the Norwegian divisions to France at the time of the Normandy landings because he feared a subsequent landing operation in Norway. I bet there will be quite a few disappointed viewers who will be missing some action, because they don't like war movies with hardly any shooting, but I savored it. The Norwegians filmed a series with an excellent script and a well-chosen cast, I had nothing to complain about in terms of filmmaking or historical accuracy, so I can only recommend it. (13/06/2020)