The Shadow in My Eye Review: Ole Bornedal Manages To Portray The Misfortunes Of War With A Good Direction

Director: Ole Bornedal

Starring: Bertram Bisgaard Enevoldsen, Ester Birch, Ella Josephine Lund Nilsson

Streaming Platform: Netflix (click to watch)

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

The Shadow in My Eye aka The Bombardment (Skyggen I Mit Øje) is a Netflix historical-dramatic film that can stand out among the many that talk about war. Director Ole Bornedal chooses to tell an episode that really happened during the Second World War in his land, Denmark. By doing so, he hits the mark: his work is as true as it is deep and poignant, a punch in the stomach for the topics covered and a rare pearl in terms of images and acting.

The Shadow in My Eye Review: The Story

The film is inspired by an actual event that took place during the Second World War. In 1945, the Royal Air Force decided to attack the Shell House in Copenhagen, headquarters of the Gestapo and a place of torture against spies and deserters. During the airstrike, a mistake by British forces causes part of the bombing to be directed to a primary school: the mistake causes the death of 125 civilians, including 86 children.

In The Shadow in My Eye the stories of some people involved in the attack are told: a child who was traumatized after witnessing a bombing, a child who saw the killing of a spy in the middle of the street, a nun who fails to find the strength to believe, a young Gestapo policeman disowned by his family. Not extreme cases, soldiers or inmates, but people who could be anyone and who, because of the war, are unable to live peacefully.

The resistance had asked the British to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen. Spoiler: it goes wrong. The Royal Air Force ended up bombing a school full of primary school students. Basically, this is the general idea you have of the movie if you combine the information you are given at the beginning and the synopsis from Netflix before you start watching it. But in order for us to connect with this misfortune, The Shadow in My Eye needs to give us the necessary elements for the drama to affect us. And his best weapon is found in his characters.

Although we will mainly be following the story of three children, the perspectives of different people related to the conflict also appear in the story, such as the nuns who teach at the school, prisoners of war or soldiers like the one played by Alex Høgh Andersen, whom You will surely know him for his role as Ivar in Vikings. If the script had focused exclusively on letting us see the story through the eyes of those children, we would be facing a very different film, but that does not mean that it does not get closer to their situation. His presence is a success, let’s say that they are effective as emotional triggers and to advance the plot, although without becoming memorable.

The Shadow in My Eye Review and Analysis

In The Shadow in My Eye many profound themes are touched, but the guiding thread of the film is a concept as simple as it is brutal: war arrives and, whatever moment you are living, whoever you are, invades every aspect of existence. The beginning of the film clearly explains the idea: the images are cheerful, long shots depicting the Danish countryside alternate with cheerful scenes of a family in celebration. A whistling child is riding a bicycle. Not far away, a car drives along the provincial roads when suddenly a plane throws a bomb on the car, killing the family inside. The idea is that even in the most desolate places, even in moments of peace, it is not possible to let your guard down if you are at war.

The protagonists of the film are at least five. Three of these are children who have to juggle their feelings between childhood and war: carefree cannot exist to the end. There is no lack of joyful moments, but they are small flashes in the general climate of tension of the conflict. The other two protagonists are a novice and a Nazi. Both very young, they struggle to build their future in the context of the war: Teresa loses faith and Frederik is overwhelmed by guilt.

As if the tension of the surrounding world were not enough, the lives of the protagonists of The Shadow in My Eye and that of the people around them – are jeopardized by the attack on the school. As bombs and rubble do with the characters in the film, war crushes and sacrifices innocent subjects in a casual and often erroneous manner for a “greater good”. And what’s more innocent than children, nuns and lovers?

The film is truly a magnet for the viewer. Starting from the opening credits to the closing ones, everything is studied in detail to involve and excite. Dramatic reality and fiction blend perfectly to elevate and exalt historical facts. In all this, music and sound are essential to make A Shadow in the Eye work: childish tunes and classical music allow the images to dance in front of the audience’s eyes, enchanting them. The direction and photography are excellent, and the acting is no exception. Especially the children are very good, faces of stone in the face of the horrors of war.

Particular note of merit also goes to the way in which the film speaks of faith, experienced as a refuge or as absurdity in the most desperate moments. In conclusion The Shadow in My Eyes is a spectacular film in the true sense of the word: it starts from a real and felt fact, adds the amount of fiction and magic necessary to make it a show and goes straight to the spectator’s heart. In a historical moment like the present one, we cannot fail to advise you to see it!

The Shadow in My Eye Review: The Last Words

The Shadow in My Eye is, despite everything, a niche film that we will surely have forgotten in a few months and that will not become the new reference when we talk about films set during the Second World War, but if the body asks you war cinema, this Netflix tape fulfills its purpose. Ole Bornedal manages to portray the misfortunes of war with a good direction and putting the spotlight on a group of children. You empathize with the hardships of their characters. There is enough information so you don’t get lost.