April 9th (film)
2015 film directed by Roni Ezra
April 9th (Danish: 9. april) is a 2015 Danish war film directed by Roni Ezra, and starring Pilou Asbæk and Lars Mikkelsen. The film depicts the German invasion of Denmark which commenced on 9 April 1940 and follows a Danish bicycle infantry company sent as a vanguard to slow down the German advance until reinforcements can arrive.
The film's budget was 22 million Danish krone (just over $3 million) and was supported by the Danish Film Institute, TV 2, and the Haderslev Municipality. The film was released in Danish cinemas on 12 March 2015.
Plot
During the night of 9 April 1940, the Danish army is alerted that the German army has crossed the border, and Denmark is now at war with Europe's strongest army. In South Jutland, a Danish bicycle infantry company and motorcycle platoon is ordered to hold off the German advance until reinforcements can arrive but are quickly overwhelmed by superior German forces. During the morning Second Lieutenant Sand (Pilou Asbæk) and his platoon of soldiers battle the Germans and then retreat to Haderslev.
Cast
Production
The film was directed by Roni Ezra, and the screenplay was by Tobias Lindholm (who also wrote A Hijacking, Borgen, and The Hunt). The outline story was based on eyewitness accounts, conversations, and interviews with the few surviving veterans of 9 April 1940, who fought the invading German Army.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18586579. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015 and 1940.
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This entry incorporates text from “April 9th (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.