A mostly German-language drama set in Nazi-occupied Norway, Betrayal has a strange and jarring framing device in a brief and terribly acted English-language prologue, completely different in look and feel to the rest of the film, an American woman visits her aging mother, who suddenly decides to reveal her past as a British double agent who worked for the Gestapo. (Cue film-length flashback telling her story.) This feels tacked-on in order to attract English-speaking audiences, but its lack of subtlety or craft is reflective of Betrayal in general: unfussy, run-of-the-mill and seemingly put together without the assistance of anyone who actually cares about the material.
It’s a grey, barren, unappealing film. Of course, WWII dramas aren’t always designed to be fun, but Betrayal doesn’t even begin to effectively convey any of the darkness of Nazism. All it elicits is complete emotional neutrality. The visuals express nothing; the camerawork is undistinctive in short, it’s neither narratively nor visually compelling.
There are odd moments of excitement a shootout midway through and another at the end but they never last long and there’s rarely a sustained mood of suspense. It’s a slow, talky film but the dialogue never moves beyond elementary plot machinations. Perhaps it may be of mild interest to WWII nuts, but anyone who just wants a well-told, gripping yarn could do a lot better than this.
Overall Verdict: An insubstantial war drama that’s numbingly devoid of passion.
Special Features:
Trailer
Reviewer: Tom René