Into the Darkness Parent Guide

On April 9^th, 1940, Nazi troops marched into Denmark. Within six hours, the government had capitulated and all military forces were recalled. For the Skov family, everything is now tinged with uncertainty. The immediate concern for family patriarch Karl (Jesper Christensen) is the electronics business he operates. It relied primarily on shipments to and from England, which are now forbidden. As Karl struggles with his logistical problems and wrestles with his conscience as he tries to decide if he’s going to sell products to Germany, he finds that his family might be in as much trouble as his business. Karl and his wife Eva (Bodil Jørgensen) have five adult children, who are making perilous and often divergent choices in the ethical minefields that surround them. Meanwhile, the war spreads to the Soviet Union, and the situation in Denmark continues to degrade. The facts of the Nazi occupation require all Danes to choose a side, and time is running out for Karl to make that choice.

Although that synopsis sounds simple, this film is a sprawling drama with dozens of major named characters – hence the two-and-a-half hour runtime. What’s more, this is only part one of a two part series, which means the ending leaves plenty of plotlines unresolved. If you’re looking for a nice, simple, digestible piece of media, Into the Darkness is not for you. On the other hand, if you want to explore morality and family relationships under extreme pressure, this is an excellent choice.

For such a long, sprawling movie, the pacing in Into the Darkness is surprisingly consistent. It doesn’t exactly race, but it doesn’t drag either. With so many characters, the film has the advantage of being able to jump from one subplot to another to keep things moving. That, however, comes with a downside: You have to pay attention to all of the subplots and keep track of a lot of characters to avoid confusion. Luckily for you, the movie is streaming online, so you can pause and take bathroom breaks – a necessity in a lengthy, complex production.

While this Danish blockbuster isn’t suitable for children (they tend to dislike subtitles), it avoids a good deal of typical wartime gore. There is one brief scene of female nudity, but on the other hand, there’s almost no profanity of any kind. I’m going to reserve judgement on the story as a whole until I see the conclusion (due in Denmark in early 2022 and hopefully shortly thereafter in North America ), but based on what I’ve seen so far, I expect a good deal of ethical turmoil and a lot more excitement. And that has to be a good thing…right?