The Good Traitor (2020) User Reviews

Remarkable true story from WW2

[wrxsti54 · 7/10 · 14 August 2021]

The Good Traitor chronicles the remarkable true story of Denmark's ambassador to the US around the time of the outbreak of WW2 Henrick Kaufmann (Ulrich Thomsen). Kaufmann had married an American socialite Charlotte MacDougal (Denise Gough). Kaufmann also had an affair with her sister Zilla (Zoe Tapper). The sisters were remarkably well-connected in the upper echelon's of American society including a close personal friendship with President Franklin Roosevelt (Henry Goodman).

After the Nazi occupation of Denmark, the Danish government essentially capitulated to the Germans and governed as their puppets but Kaufmann was determined for the Danish embassy in the US to defy what he saw was an illegitimate and coerced government of his overlords and so he defiantly declared his (and various other supportive Danish embassies around the world) as representatives of a free and democratic Denmark. Such a course meant not just an instant recall to Copenhagen but cessation of all income. Knowing that the Danish government had repatriated its gold reserves to the US Federal Reserve in New York, Kaufmann embarked upon a cunning campaign of lobbying to gain not just official recognition of his stance but access to the gold. Initially he tried to use the family's connection with President Roosevelt, and the personal friendship that he developed with him, to try and finesse this outcome but to no avail due to pre-Pearl Harbor US caution.

Kaufmann, and his lieutenant Povl Bang-Jensen (Mikel Boe Felsgaard), proposed that the Americans build an air force base on highly strategic Danish controlled Greenland and used this as leverage to gain the needed official US recognition of his embassy's status and access to the gold from which he was able to fund on a regular basis a number of the rebel embassies across the world.

This of course made him temporarily a traitor in the eyes of the puppet government in Copenhagen but as the tide of the war turned and with the invasion at Normandy and the eventual surrender of the Germans, Kaufmann returned to Denmark in May 1945 hailed as a hero. He also became heavily involved in promoting the launch of the United Nations against the wishes of his postwar government.

Given that the movie is mostly set in the United States, quite large portions of the dialogue are in English even though this is a Danish made production. Whilst the topic is riveting, the execution of various aspects of World War II history as continuity to the story really do reflect the limited budget of the movie. That said, it's definitely worth watching.

Brilliant idea but poor script

[cvjensen-30137 · 5/10 · 7 September 2020]

Too much focus personal intrigues and too little focus on the history

Great movie

[post-807-525446 · 7/10 · 5 September 2020]

It's a fine movie about a interesting person in Danish history. To be hornets I didn't know Henrik Kaufmann and the history of him before this movie. It's a interesting man and a interesting story. The play from the actors is really good from all. Go to the theater and see the movie. It's worth it.

Great story, but...

[teamschaefergps · 4/10 · 22 February 2021]

Great story. It could have been much better with a simultaneously running story following the war in Denmark and less jealous woman theme. Also a greater budget allowing more actions would have made a huge difference.

Loved this story

[kmjohnsonaz-11-669963 · 8/10 · 25 October 2021]

I liked the cadence of the move (others have complained), it is not a war action movie, it demonstrates the complexities going on behind the scenes and how brave people can become even when it is not popular to do so.

Nobody at the time could have predicted the outcomes, so yes it was brave to take a stance and do whatever means necessary to defeat a threat to your country's democracy.

Danish american in an exciting time but dull package

[william-eugensson · 5/10 · 3 February 2020]

Entertainment value: 5 Visuals: 6 Soundtrack: 4 Plot: 4 World building and depth: 6 Characters and dialog: 4 Total: 5

The good: Nice setting in the American 40s.

The bad: The dialog felt bland. The acting was not that good most of the time. The main character did not fit his role in my opinion. The American president was the sweetest old man, dunno if theodore roosevelt was that man in reality.

Story is great but cinetography and pace is awful

[ChrJahnsen · 5/10 · 22 August 2020]

This could have been a much better film than it ended up being. The story is a very interesting one that needs to be told, but the pace of the film is really toe curling at times. All of his family rubbish is completely irrelevant to the film and should have be left out. In fact every single scene with the ambassador's wife seems to be there to make the film last 2 hours when it should only have been 90 minutes long. They should have been deleted from the manuscript during the very first drafts.

Add to this that roughly half the imagery is filmed in something I utterly despise: handheld! And for no reason whatsoever as it is so often seen with director's who haven't a clue. This was a constant source of irritation to me throughout the film and when the pace of the film often got on my nerves as well, I ended up having watched mediocre film that left a very mixed impression.

Well done!

[pedalingted · 10/10 · 29 April 2021]

I much enjoyed, the story, the acting and the script.

Bland.

[caslater-60756 · 4/10 · 31 July 2022]

I have seen many WWI-II movies with more action, excitement, suspense, drama, etc. This movie is bland. I know that there is a book on Henrik Kauffmann called "Defiant Diplomacy." I hope that the book is better than this movie.

Of course he prefers her sister...

[Grigsby3 · 5/10 · 29 July 2021]

His wife is not very attractive.

This would have been a better movie if there was more attention paid to the Danish Freedom fighters during the war. Instead there is a 4 year gap in the story from 1941-1945.

A fine movie for a school project

[imdb-294-839654 · 4/10 · 13 August 2020]

After i've seen another great movie "The idealist" also from the hand of Christina Rosendal, it was with some expectations I watched this movie and I was so disappointed. Well, I must admit I hadn't done any homework, reading or doing research about the history regarding the plot on this movie. That was perhaps a great mistake of me.. don't know.. but I hate to read all about a movie before I go to see it, nor do I ever see trailers that either total spoils every expense within the movie or show to much so that you actually have seen the whole movie. This movie is so boring in many ways IF you go and see it just as a "thriller" or "drama" or what it was supposed to be?? Do yourself a favor BEFORE you see the movie, read and do research about world war 2 and Henrik Kauffman, then you perhaps will find some moment of interest in this looong, talking, talking, talking and more talking movie. Don't let you fool by watching the trailers..there is absolutely no thrill, action, or suspense in "The good traitor" Maybe and only maybe, it could be used in a school project and be shown in class time. So sorry Christina.. Not sure what went wrong here.. There are so many good actors, all doing their best, but in my opinion it's obviously that they have a hard time to find the right, how should I say, feelings. hmm..!? It just don't feel right.