Boreas 1.7 - The Art of War

Boreas - The Art of War

Genre: Thriller / Drama

Director: Mark Romanek

Writer: Ann Morrow

Cast: Merritt Wever, Shea Whigham, Lars Mikkelsen, Mikael Persbrandt, Ben McKenzie, Betsy Brandt, Sunny Suljic, Alistair Petrie, Ola Rapace, Pilou Asbaek, Dennis Haysbert and Nina Hoss

Plot: Spencer (Ben McKenzie), Justine (Betsy Brandt) and Frank (Shea Whigham) were thrown out of their cells and given guns to defend the facility, although they weren’t told that. Richard (Alistair Petrie) does his best to organize the troops, but everything is a little chaotic. Mr. Thompson (Dennis Haysbert) expresses his disappointment to Erik (Lars Mikkelsen) as they look on the unprepared troops. Thompson asks Erik if the people have any idea of what they’re about to do and Erik stays silent. Thompson asks him if it really means that these people out there were not told they were prisoners and Erik says he wouldn’t understand. Telling people they’re prisoners would work in theory, but in practice, it’s not the same thing. The blizzard gets more intense and they can’t see anything, so they go back inside. On the ground, Spencer, Justine and Frank’s group marches forward and they have no idea where they’re going. 

Alice (Merritt Wever) holds on to Jimmy (Sunny Suljic) as the other women and children panic around them. Alice whispers to her son that they are leaving this place before it’s too late and she heads for the door. She is blocked by Nora (Nina Hoss) who tells her that nobody can leave. 

Bernhard (Mikael Persbrandt), Gustav (Ola Rapace) and Gunnar (Pilou Asbaek) come back from the facility by taking the shortcut through the mountains. Gustav and Gunnar are carrying their leaders who can’t put any weight on his leg, an injury he suffered when Emily stabbed him. They ask around for Nina and they are told she’s in the women’s barracks. They bring Bernhard in there he tells them to make sure to win the fight. When they leave, Bernhard tries to leave and go back to fight, but Nora doesn’t want to. He tells her he’s been waiting for quite some time to defeat them and he won’t sit here like a coward when he can fight. Nora says he will not leave this place as long as she’s alive. Frustrated, Bernhard looks around and he sees Alice. He asks her what the hell she’s doing here.

As Gustav and Gunnar coordinate the war effort and the men gear themselves up, Spencer, Justine and Frank walk in a narrow path, still not knowing where they’re going. Spencer decides to go and ask Richard and he’s told that they’re at war and attacking the enemy and he won’t answer any more questions. Spencer asks him if he’s sure they’re headed in the right direction, because they can’t see anything. Richard says they’ve prepared for this so what doesn’t he head back with the  group and just do his job. He goes back to his friends and he tells them what he’s learned to their surprise. 

Bernhard talks with Alice and she tells him that she came here to find her son and she wants to leave this place. Bernhard says he can help her do that if she helps him get the hell out of this barrack and out there to fight with his men. She says she can’t trust him and will not help him, not after what he did to his daughter. Bernhard says he didn’t do anything to Emily, in fact she got the better of him. She may look inoffensive, but her daughter is resourceful and more courageous than she imagines, she did this to him. He never hurt his daughter. Alice says she’ll think about it and gets away from him. She talks with Jimmy and she asks him if he ever hurt him. He says he didn’t, in fact, everyone here was nice to him. Besides how he acts, he doesn’t think Bernhard is a bad guy in his hard.

Gustav and Gunnar followed Bernhard’s plan down to a tee. They’ve turned off all the torches and candles in the village, bringing it in complete obscurity. Everyone is hidden and ready to attack. They are just waiting for them to arrive. They know they’ll come with some heavy arsenal, but they can have the element of surprise on their side.

Richard and his group, followed by other groups on the narrow path down the mountain move forward slowly but surely, slowed down by the blizzard, more intense than before. Richard stops dead in his tracks. He sees building not far away and the assault starts. The group spreads through the village and out of nowhere, the savages jump on them. Spencer had the time to see him coming and he kills him. Frank struggles with his and he looks to his side to see Justine being stabbed to death. Spencer quickly kills the man stabbing Justine and he helps Frank with his. He tells his old neighbour that they should get out of here before they are killed too. The savages are handling the first wave well, but they are badly outnumbered. Erik follows his troops in the back and is not too worried when he hears the shots fired.

The battle has turned into a shooting war after the element of surprise was gone. Erik’s men have the advantage has they have better weapons and are on a higher landscape. Mr. Thompson joins Erik and Erik tells him that all the prisoners are down there, while his guards and soldier are up here, so he won’t have a lot of casualties on his side. Thompson says it was a genius move, he may have been wrong about him after all.

In the barracks, Bernhard can’t take it anymore and heads out. Nora tries to block his path and he slaps her so hard she falls on the ground. He limps, but he leaves the building. As the women and children  rush to Nora’s help, Alice and Jimmy leave the building. As they look back, they see buildings lit on fire and hear gunshots. They head in the forest and try to head back home.

Bernhard tries to help his men, but quickly finds out that it’s a lost cause. His people are butchered by Erik’s and they are already setting the village on fire and destroying everything. He walks across the village, limping, and he heads for his home, who is left untouched. On his way there, he sees Gustav’s dead body on the ground. He continue and enters his home, where he finds Spencer and Frank, hidden. They ask him who he is and he says he’s the one who runs the place and he asks them what they’re doing here. They say they don’t want to fight anymore. Bernhard asks them to help him get the women and children out of here. Spencer tells him that if he’s the leader around here, he’s surely the one who kidnapped his son. Bernhard says today is his lucky day, because his son and his tenacious wife are here. Spencer accepts to help him.