The Bombardment chronicles one of the worst tragedies in Copenhagen’s history. The film may be so tragic the phrase “The spoils of war” might have been written about it.
For historical context, on May 1st, 1945, three waves of fighter planes took off from Norfolk, England. There were 18 Mosquito bombers, and two of them only took photographs. Their mission was to destroy anti-aircraft batteries concentrated around the city.
The Gestapo controls the town, and the Danish resistance is attacked. A number of that group were held in the attic of the Nazi headquarters and acted as a human shield.
The risk and reward outweighed the moral dilemma of killing imprisoned Danish citizens. Because of the low altitude and smoke from a shot-down plane that crashed in the city’s heart, assumptions about targets were made because of the lack of visibility.
As a result, the French Roman Catholic school, Institut Jeanne D’Arc, destroyed 86 children.
The film focuses on three children who attend the school: Rigmor, Eva, and Henry. Henry is Rigmor’s cousin, and Eva is Rigmor’s friend. They are practicing for the school play under the tutelage of Sister Teresa (Fanny Bornedal), and Rigmor is very fond of her. However, Eva skipped her breakfast this morning, and she went to grab a snack, but Henry followed her.
That’s when the bombardment on the school started. They begin to walk out of the school. Eva walks away down the street. Under an air raid, Henry runs back to the school. Their class is now taking the stairs down a stairwell and to the basement.
Another explosion from an Allied bomb hits the school, causing damage. When Sister Teresa looks down the middle opening of the stairwell, she sees a bomb that has not detonated. She screams for everyone to get out of the stairwell and grabs two children, one of them Rigmor.
The survivors, including Rigmor and Sister Teresa, head to the basement. They hear several bombs hit the school with dozens of children as they wait. Then, the roof caves in just when they think they may be safe. Sister Teresa is alive and pinned under some rubble. She talks to Rigmor, who is stuck and submerged in water from broken pipes. Helping rescue them is Frederik, a former SS officer in training who quits after meeting Teresa.
As he claws through the rubble and drags a hose to pump out the water, he helps move the rubble so she can move. However, he hasn’t seen her face yet. She turns off her back, looks below, and sees that the water has submerged everyone. There is little chance Rigmor is alive. That’s when she turns around, and they lock eyes. Frederik is in shock, and so is Teresa. She then dives into the water, head first, to search for Rigmor (one could argue that she does because she feels Frederik may be the devil).
Suddenly, the rest of the building caves in, killing them both.
Finally, Eva’s mother stops Henry and asks if he has seen a girl who fits Eva’s description. The mother doesn’t know Henry and Eva are friends! Henry tells her that he thinks she went home. In a long tracking shot, she runs to her house and finds her daughter, caked in dust, eating a bowl of porridge.
