Quisling – The Final Days

Intense, intimate drama focused on the Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling, and the collaborationist deeds that led to his sentencing and execution in 1945. Constructed on the frank prison exchanges between Quisling and Pastor Peder Olsen, the film probes both ideological conviction and religious faith.

Vidkun Quisling, Minister President of Norway from 1942-1945, remains a strangely fascinating figure in the history of 20th century politics. An open admirer of Hitler and collaborator with Nazism, he allowed thousands of Jews to be deported to labour camps where they perished. Yet even his sworn enemies admitted he was “a very complex human being”, and the very last words that Quisling uttered before firing squad execution were: “I’m convicted unfairly and I die innocent.”

This dramatisation of Quisling’s last days by Erik Poppe is inspired by the diaries of Pastor Peder Olsen and his wife, Heidi. Olsen reluctantly accepts the unenviable job of being Quisling’s spiritual adviser in prison. Proud and unbending, Quisling rehearses the stance he will also declare in court: that everything he did was to counter the spread of Bolshevism, and to keep Norway out of the war as much as possible. Olsen’s growing, ambivalent attachment to Quisling results in a crisis of faith, but will the accused ever beg God for forgiveness? Quisling – The Final Days ultimately achieves a great intensity, staged with a steely, classical focus and powered by strong performances.

– Adrian Martin

Trailer

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