On April 9, 1940, Nazi Germany occupied Norway. Hitler established a fortress in Norway and stationed aircraft, warships, and submarines in the northern region.
On March 24, 1943, "Operation Red Martin" was launched. The United Kingdom trained 12 Norwegian soldiers and sent them to Norway to perform a mission to destroy German airports and facilities. Only one person returned alive.
The most incredible thing about this story is that there is something in history.
"The Twelfth Man" is adapted from this matter. The movie is straight to the point. At the beginning, a 12-person sabotage squad was attacked by the Germans. 11 of them were arrested. Only Jan Basrudd managed to escape.
The whole movie tells the story of the German army chasing and killing Yang, and Yang struggling to escape. He has swam through a strait where the water temperature is below zero, took a boat across the fjord, encountered an avalanche on skis, sled over a mountain, and came to Norway and At the border of Sweden, a reindeer was finally sent to Sweden.
With tenacious perseverance and the help of the Norwegian people, he successfully escaped from the pursuit of the German army and brought the secret documents back to Britain.
The ending subtitles show: Jan Basrudd continued to train recruits until Norway was liberated.
Young doesn't think he is a hero. He said: Those who keep him alive are real heroes.
In 1988, Young died, and people buried him in Mandren according to his wishes, with the people who helped him.
Although "The Twelfth Man" is a main theme movie, this is not a story about Yang alone. Without the help of the Norwegian people, he would not be able to escape to Sweden. The 135-minute film length also gives other characters more drama and more room to play.
For example, there is only a part of the map, and a little girl who is very proficient in geography points out the way to Sweden for Yang.
Another example is Young's toe being broken by a bullet and unable to wading, Pilders carried him to the shore.
Marius also harboured Yang at the risk of the death penalty, and helped him over the snow-capped mountains by pulling Yang with his companions on a sled.
The most impressive thing is that after Marius took in Yang, Marius’ sister Gu Juan had a good impression of him, and later proposed to go to the snow mountain to find him.
And we can also know from the ending subtitles that Gu Juan didn't get married until 20 years later.
This processing method is very advanced. Nolan once said: "If you add a love scene to a war movie, it will make people feel very fake." And "The Twelfth Man" only implies that the audience Gu Juan has a good impression of Yang, and finally said that Gu Juan will be 20 years later. Just get married, and leave the rest to the audience to imagine. This is an open bridge section, which leaves room for reverie.
After all, Gu Juan never personally said that she likes Yang in the movie, so there is no suspicion of making up.
The film does not clearly explain what happened between Gu Juan and Yang, but we can guess that Gu Juan has been waiting for Yang for the past 20 years. Maybe they have an unknown past.
The above details make the images of the Norwegian people from Yang to Gu Juan and Marius clear, making the whole story more vivid and three-dimensional.
So this is definitely not an individualistic movie. A large number of characters in the movie have distinctive images, and they are an important factor in Yang's successful escape, and they have provided help for Yang.
This is not the story of the protagonist saving the world and saving the people, but the story of the people saving the protagonist. It is indeed different from those individualistic movies that are invulnerable, protects the body, and save the people from fire and water.
This is why Young said: I don't think of myself as a hero, those who keep me alive are real heroes.
Just like the lines of "Seven Samurai": It is not us who have won the battle, but the farmers.
The controversial aspect of "The Twelfth Man" is that Yang's escape experience, such as swimming across the strait, encountering an avalanche, and being sent out of the country by reindeer, is not real enough. Because Young's experience was too bizarre and exaggerated, some netizens called this film a "anti-German drama".
In fact, "The Twelfth Man" is similar to "Dunkirk", not about the Allied and German forces fighting head-on, but about "fleeing."
"Dunkirk" is a military retreat of the British and French forces, and "The Twelfth Man" is Young fleeing from the German port to Sweden. What Young had to do was not to attack the Germans, he just had to escape successfully. Therefore, the "anti-German drama" is self-defeating.
More importantly, the film is not a fantasy, but is based on real historical events.
In recent years, more and more movies have been adapted from real events. For example, in "Captain Sally", Captain Sally made an emergency landing on the Hudson River, and all 155 people survived;
In "Dunkirk", the British plan was to strive to evacuate 30,000 people, but 335,000 people were successfully evacuated.
In "Blood Battle in Hacksaw Ridge", Desmond saved 75 comrades on the battlefield and survived safely.
If there is no such historical background, the audience will think that it is too fake, think that Captain Sally, the British army, Desmond, and Young are on the hook?
Precisely because these movies are adapted from real events and supported by historical events, the credibility is improved.
In addition, adapting based on the truth not only makes the audience believe in the movie more, but also enhances the appeal of the movie. Although ordinary movies are inspirational and full of positive energy, you know they are all made up, and movies based on real things will make the audience feel that they are greatly encouraged. After all, there are really people in history who are so brave and strong, so why do we Can't it?
As far as "The Twelfth Man" is concerned, the film conveys the preciousness of belief and persistence. Although the film is artistically processed, Young’s real experience may not be as legendary as in the movie, but we can be sure that he did survive for dozens of days under the pursuit of the German army and escaped to Sweden safely.
Before death came, his desire to survive had promoted his full potential, thus accomplishing a seemingly impossible feat.
Humans are really amazing animals. No matter what setbacks and hardships they suffer (as long as they are not fatal blows), they can recover over time and even become even better, because those who can’t kill you will only make you. More powerful.
Each of us should believe that you are far stronger than you think, and the biggest lie in the world is "you can't".
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