The Swedish Connection

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The Swedish Connection

PG-13

Feb 2026

1h 42m

Drama

War

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7 Reviews

86%

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50+ Ratings

In this little-known true story, a Swedish bureaucrat becomes an unlikely war hero as he attempts to save Jewish lives during the darkest days of WWII.

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Cath Clarke

Guardian

Feb 10

3/5

Pleasant enough but sometimes jarring with the seriousness of what is at stake.

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Calum Baker

Radio Times

Mar 4

3/5

Its wry take on the surprising power of paperwork, and its depiction of plain, simple humanity in the face of official appeasement rings true enough to grow genuinely affecting.

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John Serba

Decider

Mar 2

Gosta Engzell may not have the fame of Oskar Schindler, but his story is still worth telling.

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Andrew Jankowski

Willamette Week

Feb 28

The Swedish Connection uplifts without offering false hope.

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Jose Solís

Common Sense Media

Feb 24

3/5

It's rare to see a World War II drama open with dark humor and bureaucratic satire instead of immediate solemnity.

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Michael Clark

Epoch Times

Feb 23

4/5

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 managed to grow a conscience when it really mattered.

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Karen K

@Karena18 2d

An understated telling of this not commonly known true story. How the clever but risky actions of a few midlevel bureaucrats ended up saving the lives of over 100,000 Jewish people from the Nazi death camps. The hero of the story never directly told his story and has stayed in relative anonymity but is owed a great debt.

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Jim S.

@jvs252 3d

Too silly and felt disjointed.

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Per S

@RT83737705 5d

Apart from perhaps some animated characters a generally well made true story based film about Swedish diplomat Gösta Engzell and his team who through legal deftness saved some 100.000 European Jews from deportation to Nazi Germany during WW2. Henrik Dorsin is outstanding in the main role.

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M. G

@Salome245 5d

Fascinating little known history - strong performances from all the actors. Having visited Sweden before it was interesting to hear the language and to once again realize how close the country is to Russia and Germany geographically-they must have felt very vulnerable esp after Denmark was taken. The length is also manageable- highly recommend this film.

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Brett M

@Brettski Mar 4

I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was quite a pleasant surprise. Leads right into the book Number the Stars. A great educational movie for my kids and me.

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Carol W

@RT98985608 Mar 4

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfection!

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Therese Ahlbeck

Director

Marcus Olsson

Director

Henrik Dorsin

Gösta Engzell

Jonas Karlsson

Staffan Söderström

Jonas Malmsjö

Svante Hellstedt

Johan Glans

Göran Von Otter

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Synopsis

In this little-known true story, a Swedish bureaucrat becomes an unlikely war hero as he attempts to save Jewish lives during the darkest days of WWII.

Director: Therese Ahlbeck, Marcus Olsson
Producer: Julia Gebauer
Screenwriter: Therese Ahlbeck, Marcus Olsson
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Way Feature Films
Rating: PG-13 (Smoking|Some Strong Language)
Genre: Drama, War
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 13, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 19, 2026
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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