PG-13 | 1h 42m | Drama, War, History | 2026
For anyone who has ever been positioned in the middle of a feud, “The Swedish Connection” will have particular resonance. The easiest way to get out of the predicament of picking sides is to proclaim “I’m Sweden here,” implying neutrality.
Saying you’re neutral and actually adhering to it requires copious amounts of fortitude and will. Never was this more tested than with Sweden in World War II.
By 1942, Nazi Germany had invaded and staked claim to all of Scandinavia, with the notable exception of Sweden. Outwardly, the Nazis stated that this was because the Swedes provided them with much needed ball bearings and iron ore. In reality, it was purely manufactured public relations.
Up until this time, the Nazis were able to keep their extermination and genocide of Jews a secret. Anyone who claimed otherwise was branded a rumormonger and discredited, or worse.
The Rumors Were True
In 1942, Swedish citizens filed what were effectively missing person reports with their government regarding their Jewish relatives living in Norway and Denmark. When the “rumors” of concentration camps and the “final solution” started gaining traction, high-ranking Swedes summarily scoffed at or dismissed the revelation.
It eventually became a political hot potato passed down the hierarchy until it landed on Gosta Engzell (Henrik Dorsin), the Swedish equivalent of the American attorney general. At first, Engzell, a borderline antisemite, brushed it aside. He soon changed his mind with the arrival of Rut Vogl (Sissela Benn). A composite character, the German-born Vogl quickly becomes Engzell’s moral compass.
Being leaned on by Foreign Minister Christian Gunther (Olle Jansson) and even more so by the sniveling Cabinet Secretary Staffan Soderstrom (Jonas Karlsson), Engzell and Vogl must find a way to legally rescue tens of thousands captured individuals. They must do so without upsetting the already unsteady political situation with the increasingly desperate Nazis.
The Schindler Connection
If not kind of obvious already, “The Swedish Connection” shares a great deal of thematic overlap with “Schindler’s List.” The leads in both were willingly oblivious to Nazi atrocities, yet they managed to grow a conscience when it really mattered.
Both men actually saved thousands of lives that would have otherwise been lost. They did so while going face-to-face with one of the world’s greatest evils. While the number of lives initially rescued by Oskar Schindler was just over 800, the total for Engzell and his team is estimated to be as little as 40,000, and as many as 100,000.
The biggest difference between the two films: “The Swedish Connection” depicts no Jewish imprisonment or death, whereas “Schindler’s List” (rightfully) wields suffering like a spirit-crushing hammer and sickle.
Some people might take issue with the technical and storytelling aspects of the film. Notably, while the characters speak in their native Swedish and German tongues, the dialogue is presented in dubbed English. This practice can be annoying or disturbing. Some prefer it over subtitles, while others avoid foreign language movies out of hand, regardless of the presentation.
Subtitles Are Good
In “The Swedish Connection,” the dubbing is done quite well, and the Netflix viewer has the option of including subtitles. Personally, I prefer subtitles for all movies, English-language films included. Sometimes the characters speak with volume so low that what they say is next to impossible to understand.
First-time feature cofilmmakers Therese Ahlbeck and Marcus Olsson frequently opt for handheld camera work. On the upside, this lends the production as a whole a favorable documentary feel.
The downside is that the imagery is jittery. That increases when the characters are shot in close-up, which is frequent here. It’s reminiscent of the look of both the British and American incarnations of the TV show “The Office.” This isn’t the only similarity shared with “The Office.”
There were over a half dozen scenes where I laughed. This is not necessarily because I thought what was said was always funny, but rather because of irony. The best example of this was when a Swedish man informs a high-ranking SS officer that Adolf Hitler was one-sixteenth Jewish. The stunned look on the Nazi’s face was humorous. For the record, this oft-repeated wives’ tale of Hitler’s lineage has been long disproven.
Lastly, there is infrequent first person narration from an initially unseen and unidentified man. We don’t know who he is until the final scene, but it’s more than worth the wait. Strident WWII historians will recognize him immediately, and those of us who don’t should become enlightened.
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
‘The Swedish Connection’
Director: Therese Ahlbeck, Marcus Olsson
Stars: Henrik Dorsin, Sissela Benn, Jonas Karlsson, Olle Jansson
Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: Feb. 19, 2026
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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