The Swedish Connection (2026)

February 13, 2026 (SE) • Drama, History, War • 102m

Overview

Swedish Foreign Ministry bureaucrat Gösta Engzell, overlooked during WWII, rescued thousands while turning supposedly neutral Sweden into a moral force. His efforts challenged the status quo and left a lasting humanitarian legacy.

Directors

Thérèse Ahlbeck, Marcus Olsson

Writers

Marcus Olsson, Thérèse Ahlbeck

Top Billed

Henrik Dorsin

Keywords

world war ii sweden investigation based on true story political intrigue political corruption power struggle 1940s political pressure hidden motives nordic thriller complex plot cold atmosphere wartime secrets truth uncovering hidden networks nordic coldness

Where to watch

Free / Included

Netflix

Netflix Standard with Ads

Top Billed Cast

Henrik Dorsin

Gösta Engzell

Sissela Benn

Rut Vogl

Jonas Karlsson

Staffan Söderström

Johan Glans

Göran Von Otter

Olle Jansson

Christian Günther

Oscar Töringe

Nils Erik Eklund

Loa Falkman

Marcus Ehrenpreis

Marianne Mörck

Stina Johansson

Rakel Benér

Maria Bondy

Figge Norling

Claes Westring

Christoffer Nordenrot

Dag Hammarskjöld

Per Lasson

Per-Albin Hansson

Jonas Malmsjö

Svante Hellstedt

Carl Jacobson

Magnus Hallonsten

Richard Ulfsäter

Erik Von Post

Stefan Gödicke

Arvid Richert

Simon Norrthon

Robert Paulsson

Eva Westerling

Mrs. Jönsson

Isabelle Kyed

Mrs. Nilsson

Paul Schröder

Martin Luther

Joshua Seelenbinder

Adolf Eichmann

Magnus Schmitz

Border controller

Robert Holik

Journalist

Sigge Dorsin

Göran Engzell

Robert Beyer

Wilfried Hochholdinger

Isa Aouifia

Heino Hansen

Kryddan Peterson

Johannes Lindkvist

Crew

Thérèse Ahlbeck

Director

Marcus Olsson

Writer

Marcus Olsson

Director

Thérèse Ahlbeck

Writer

Julia Gebauer

Producer

Nina Bisgaard

Executive Producer

Jonas Sörensson

Executive Producer

Johan Testad

Music

Joachim Hedén

Cinematography

Michał Leszczyłowski

Editor

Suse Marquardt

Casting Director

Kaspar Kaae

Original Music Composer

Joakim Pietras

Editor

Michael Higgins

Production Design

Viera Dandová

Art Direction

Pontus Sovelius Pettersson

Art Direction

Ingrid Sjögren

Costume Design

Linda Boije af Gennäs

Makeup Designer

Erica Spetzig

Makeup Artist

Miroslav Mika

Third Assistant Director

Daniela Paulova

Second Assistant Director

Jiří Severa

First Assistant Director

Benny Persson

Sound Designer

Carsten Richter

Foley Artist

John Rönnerblad

Sound Mixer

Blažej Vidlička

Sound Recordist

Daniel Weis

Foley Mixer

Reviews

CinemaSerf

⭐ 7/10

August 29, 2026

Not long after the start of WWII, the neutral Swedish relationship with the Third Reich was precarious and they were extremely conscious that risking their ire was fraught with danger. Meantime, though, across the border in newly occupied Norway the Jewish population were beginning to be ostracised and shipped off to the labour camps of the Fatherland. The Government are aware that some of these people may have legitimate Swedish citizenship, but given the prevailing winds blowing feel they cannot rock that boat too vigorously - so they pass the buck down their administrative food chain onto the head of the their legal affairs team in the Foreign Office. Gösta Engzell (Henrik Dorsin) is your archetypal civil servant whom his bosses hope will just go through the motions, but as information reaches him of more and more atrocities, he decides that there might be a way to issues visas to many at risk of persecution. Initially he limits the activities of his not all entirely convinced staff to specialist cases - like a pair of twin boys; but gradually he expands this operation until it begins to annoy the Nazi henchman Adolf Eichmann (Joshua Seelenbinder) and so becomes an issue for his boss Söderström (Jonas Karlsson) and the upper echelons of government. Can they dissuade him from pursuing his mission or are they going to have to relocate him - and his wife - to their embassy in Moscow? There is something jovially avuncular about Dorsin's depiction of the increasingly determined Engzell and that performance goes some way to illustrating that there were more ways than one to take on their enemy without an head-on confrontation. It's still a very dangerous line to take, though, and through characters like Söderström and even the Foreign Minister himself, we also swiftly realise that personal concerns had to be weighed against those of a nation ill-equipped to take on the might of their neighbours across the Baltic. This is a characterfully engaging wartime adventure, more cerebral in nature, with a little dark humour included to help diffuse what is an obvious depiction of menace and threat by the goose-steppers whose obsession with eliminating the Jews is writ large here, too.

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The Swedish Connection (2026)

Thérèse Ahlbeck, Marcus Olsson

Marcus Olsson, Thérèse Ahlbeck

Where to watch

Top Billed Cast

Crew

Reviews

CinemaSerf

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