There’s a Fire Burning

Sweden’s position in WWII meant the film industry was unable to comment on current world events, and so the country in There’s a Fire Burning is unnamed, but the hints are there, as a relationship between two loves becomes strained when one’s nation attacks the other’s.

Sweden chose a rather awkward position in WWII. With Norway and Denmark occupied and Finland fighting the Soviet aggressors alongside Nazi German troops, the Swedes remained neutral – which meant they did business with all sides. This situation made it difficult for the Swedish film industry to speak concretely about current world affairs.

When the situation is as obvious as it was in the mid-40s, one doesn’t need to give too much detail for audiences to understand a work’s political point. And thus, the country invaded in There’s a Fire Burning is not called Norway, and the warmongers are not the Nazis. But it’s still very clear what Gustaf Molander means when he talks about the affair between stage actress Harriet Brandt and foreign diplomat Ernst Lemmering, and how their relationship changes once the latter’s nation attacks hers. The names are telling, especially Brandt’s, it evokes the fire of freedom burning inside her and all the others who will sooner fight and die than live in infamy…

– Olaf Möller

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