A chilling past in Betrayed
Learning about history through cinema
John Smistad
Olympia, Wash.
Den Største Forbrytelsen (2020)
English release: Betrayed (2021)
Synopsis:
Betrayed draws from the true story of the Norwegian boxer Charles Braude and his family, who were persecuted, arrested, and murdered by the Nazis during World War II. Appallingly, the entire process was carried out with the full participation of the Norwegian government and the state police, who joined in cold collaboration with Adolf Hitler to help carry out a madman’s barbaric plan to exterminate all Jews in Europe.
My review:
Betrayed opens as an engaging look into the close-knit Norwegian Braude family as they actually lived, worked, and loved in pre-World War II Oslo. The film soon shifts to a story altogether different—and absolutely terrifying.
This real-life nightmare begins with an unexpected knock at the apartment door of young newlywed couple Charles and Sarah Braude. The two visitors are Norwegian state police officers. With cold detachment, they bluntly inform this husband of still mere hours that he is being arrested, though a charge is never stated.
As Charles, a promising boxer on the rise, is whisked away, he tells his frantic wife not to worry. Sarah knows better—and so do we.
What follows is the evil that men do unto men. And women. And even children. In graphic detail. It is shocking—simply beyond sickening.
And it is all true.
For Charles, “crime” was being Jewish. And for that he and his entire family will be humiliated, tortured, and, finally, slaughtered.
There is a scene midway through Betrayed in which Charles (a brilliant and emotionally gripping performance by Kon-Tiki star Jakob Hoff Oftebro) is hurled into a pig sty by a sadistic concentration camp officer.
What we watch (if at all, as this reviewer had to turn away from the screen several times) is utterly spirit extinguishing, almost as tough to take is the well-intentioned attempt afterward by Charles’ father and his two brothers to bring a smile to his badly battered face. Charles manages a laugh, but his eyes cannot mask unspeakable pain.
The final moments of Betrayed chill to the core. This is agonizing to witness. And grim beyond description.
And while deeply disturbing, these scenes drive home an unconditional and enduring message to all Norwegians. To the expanse of humankind. And for all time eternal.
Never again.
Betrayed is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of The Norwegian American.
