Max Manus: Man of War

Despite a title that suggests it’s about a low rent wrestler fighting a minor bout on ITV’s 1970s classic World of Sport, this is an intriguing tale of wartime courage.

Apparently seen by a quarter of the Norwegian population in just six weeks, it follows resistance leader Max Manus (Hennie) and his flamboyant sabotage of the Nazi war effort.

After careless leaflet distribution on the streets of the Norwegian capital, he is packed off to Scotland to be trained as a commando by the British, specialising in sabotage.

Together with his “Oslo Gang”, Manus used canvas canoes to infiltrate heavily guarded harbours and attach limpet mines to the hulls of  German vessels docked in Norway.

They also destroyed the Employment Office Oslo archive in broad daylight, crucially frustrating Hitler’s efforts to mobilise Norwegian teenagers and send them to the Eastern Front.

Hennie plays Manus as a determined adversary whose cavalier attitude often courted trouble – his nervous problems and subsequent alcoholism are only lightly touched on.

The similarly themed Flame and Citron – which told the tale of two Norwegian resistance assassins – was a more emotionally complex affair while this sticks to straight-down-the-line storytelling.

Manus’ chief adversary, Gestapo chief Sigfried Fehmer (Duken), is a less successful creation. The film-makers claim they intended to avoid caricature but he never comes across as anything other than a charmingly ruthless Nazi killing machine.

Nevertheless, it’s a cracking yarn rippingly told. If it's havoc wreaked on Hitler's goosestepping invaders you want, then take it to the Max.

Tim Evans