In Nazi-occupied Denmark a handful of people worked underground to fight against the occupiers. They published illegal newspapers. They sabotaged German equipment. Some were even killers. Flame & Citron is the story of a two-man assassination squad. Bent Faurschou-Hviid (code-named Flame because of his red hair) and Jorgen Haagen Schmith (code-named Citron) were legendary for their brazen killings. They were the most wanted men in Denmark and took pride in the size of the reward on their heads. They weren't supposed to kill Germans because that would bring retribution against the public. But they did kill collaborators. They did so boldly and without guilt.

Bent is the one who does most of the killing. Jorgen has been very active in other parts of the Resistance, procuring weapons and doing acts of sabotage. Now he serves as driver for Bent, although he is also being drawn into the role of assassin. Both of them go through a bit of a metamorphosis as the film progresses. Bent begins to doubt what they are doing; Jorgen becomes more comfortable with killing.

Flame & Citron needs to be seen as film noir. Usually we think of noir as dealing with a hardboiled detective, but what really makes such films dark is the moral ambiguity and the shifting sands of trust and loyalty. Think of The Maltese Falcon, Chinatown, and Casablanca. All involve very imperfect heroes who have a strong sense of morality and honor, but it may be a very relativistic morality. Bent and Jorgen clearly fit this mold.

And in any film noir, you need a woman. Here it is Ketty Selmer, who seems to know all about Bent and Jorgen when they first meet. She has connections to the Resistance and to the Nazis. She provides information about the enemy, but is she too close to them to trust? She is the moth to whom the Flame is drawn. He can't help himself. At times she seems to be on their side, but she may also be playing both sides against the middle. She states that her goal is to survive.

As the story unfolds, we (and the characters) begin to wonder about what they are doing. To be sure they are fighting against a great evil, but is it worth the price? It also seems that some of those they are sent to kill may not be as bad as it would appear—perhaps they are also fighting against the evil. Maybe they are killing innocent people. Whom can they trust? Ketty gives them information that suggests that their leader is something less than loyal to the cause. But Ketty herself has to be seen as suspect.

The film opens with Bent saying that he knows he's doing the right thing. Later in the film, Jorgen speaks with his estranged wife telling her, "I have to go to jail for the things I have done." The morality of these actions is an ever-present issue. To be sure, acts done in wartime are judged by different standards, but are there still moral standards that must be followed? What happens if you follow your orders in good faith, only to find you were misled? Do those who take up the sword become more and more like the enemy they fight?

There are some interesting bits of dialogue in the film, usually between Bent and an intended victim. Perhaps Bent's weakness is that he listens too much. When a German Abwehr officer tells Bent they are on the same side, it begins to erode his trust in his superiors. Later when in a standoff with the Gestapo commander, the two come to a sense of respect for each other—a recognition that they are both soldiers for their beloved country—that they are more alike than either would care to admit.

The film invites us to consider the price of "doing the right thing" and what that means to different people. To the Germans, the men were terrorists and thugs. To many Danish people they were heroes. I wonder what insights Palestinians or Israelis would gain from this film. Would they see it the same way we do? Would Iraqis understand the trial of being occupied more fully than Americans? Film noir always raises hard ethical questions in our minds. Flame & Citron is a welcome addition to the genre.