Reviews

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  ★★★½ review by PUNQ on Letterboxd

  "En riktig god film". Danish political thriller about exposing government secrets from the cold war when Denmark officially said no to nuclear weapons, but apparently had a different deal going on with the US. And besides being a very true story, using real TV footage from the time to gain a real feeling of the times, the staging is impressively put together. Creates a urgency into the uncovering of the scandal and gives good detail into the remarkable cover-up by the new governments 20 years later, not wanting the details of the '1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash' revealed. Scary to think almost American tendencies were alive in Scandinavia in this way.

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  ★★★½ review by Thomas Harrison-Lord on Letterboxd

  A hard hitting Danish film about a journalist uncovering government truths during the cold war, based on true events. Intense, gripping and it didn't feel anywhere near 2 hours in length. Always a good sign.

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  ★★★★ review by cinemagazine on Letterboxd

  "Dit klokkenluidersverhaal is een sterk staaltje Scandinavische vertelkunst. Ondanks de lengte blijft ‘The Idealist’ boeien, met stijgende spanning naarmate Brink dichter bij de waarheid komt en de persoonlijke dreiging toeneemt."

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  ★★★★½ review by Stephen Brown on Letterboxd

  A compelling drama based on uncovering real life cold war secrets. I was fully engaged, if not quite on the edge of my seat, throughout it's running time and would have happily carried on watching a longer version (which is saying something when I think every film is too long).

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  ★★★½ review by Nicolas on Letterboxd

  CAPSULE REVIEW: "Idealisten" is a superb Danish journalism-procedural portraying a mostly forgotten historical event that sparked the ire among Danes when they realized that their government's subservience to the US. And I don't think that your average Dane is aware of the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash today. "Idealisten" is also a very confident sophomore movie from a director whose debut was a forgettable and silly chick-flick ("Supervoksen"). The Thule Air Base crash revealed the utter hypocrisy among leading, liberal Social Democrats, particularly prime minister H.C. Hansen who once declared 'H.C. Hansen siger nej til atomvåben i Danmark' (i.e. H.C. Hansen says no to atomic bombs in Denmark) while at the same time letting the Americans store and handle atomic material in Greenland. And this movie also reminds us of what real journalism and real journalists look like - and real journalist are not afraid to loose their access to powerful people. And what's the point of access if you can't utilize it to expose corruption and lies?

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