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I probably am apt to rank foreign-made films above their Hollywood counterparts. Sometimes I wonder if that’s fully warranted, or if I give a well-intended “outsider” piece a certain benefit-of-the-doubt that I wouldn’t extend to a product of Hollywood. It’s hard to evaluate the extent of one’s own bias, begin biased and all that.

In the case of The King’s Choice, free to watch on Amazon Prime’s streaming, as I watched I found myself appreciating not only the work overall but also cinematic details. For example, the pacing of the transitions changes significantly in one of the pivotal, dramatic scenes. It’s a level of detail I generally wouldn’t notice and so maybe it’s more common than I realize. It was just a use of black space but was enough to set up the viewers’ emotions for the scene that was about to follow. It made me appreciate that the film is considerably more than just a “teleplay.”

While not exactly expensive, The King’s Choice was hardly a “budget” film. There are some action sequences and some more-than-passable special effects. It also benefits from being an “up close and personal” drama. It is the characters – the individuals – that matter, not tanks and planes and desperate shootouts. This means that the most important scenes are tight shots with dialog and character acting, not the sweeping views of war. Admirably, the production seemed to have made a modest profit during its original run and presumably continues to earn via its streaming availability.

As I often do, I amuse myself with the title of this film – given that it was made primarily by and for* Norwegians. In its original language, the title is Kongens Nei, or, “The King’s No.” While I knew some of the history of the German invasion of Norway, Norway’s capitulation, and the resistance that came after, I had no notions about the role that the King or his family played in this. So similarly (albeit for different reasons) to my experience with Harris’ Munich, I really had no idea what the King was going to do; what he would say. Perhaps someone anticipated this ignorance from the English-speaking audience and therefore obscured the “ending” by providing an alternate title. Perhaps I ruined the film for you by telling you the original title. If so… so sorry.

Photo by Alex Dugquem on Pexels.com

*It premiered, in fact, at the Norwegian Royal Palace before the royal family.