45,000 Landmines

after World War II in Europe, where Denmark finally earns their liberation from German occupation for five years. While the Wehrmacht occupiers walk in the middle of the road, Sergeant Carl Leopold Rasmussen suddenly stops his vehicle to approach the German prisoner of war, saying that he shouldn’t carry a Danish flag while beating him up.

Fortunately, the Danish Army returns after serving in the British Parachute Regiment during World War II. Yet, it eventually makes them revengeful as they take a group of young Wehrmacht occupiers as their prisoners.

Then, after beating him up, another young German soldier tries to stop Rasmussen, yet Rasmussen also beats him up. Later, young German prisoners arrive at the field, where Rasmussen commands officer Captain Ebbe Jensen from the Danish Pioneer Corps to send them to the west coast.

Upon announcing, Ebbe explains why they are brought to Denmark, saying that they will clean up the aftermath and expect that no one in Danish people will help them with open arms because Denmark is not their friend.

Ebbe also points out their purpose, and it is to clear Denmark’s west coast of German landmines. Unfortunately, Rasmussen is determined to treat the young prisoners without sympathy as payment for Hitler’s evil schemes.

Unfortunately, the landmines buried along the Danish west coast are approximately 2.2 million, and Denmark soldiers will only train them using their bare hands upon removing the mines. Afterward, the young German soldiers begin their task while Ebbe introduces them by beating their hands with a long stick.

Then after the short training, Ebbe warns them that if they make a mistake, the young German soldiers will either die or be badly injured. Helmut Morbach then volunteers first to continue the task, and luckily, he succeeds.

However, while the young soldiers complete their mission, one of them suddenly fails to defuse the landmine and kills himself inside the bunker. Afterward, the young German soldiers go to their shelter when suddenly Rasmussen appears and stops in front of them.

Rasmussen then lines them up aggressively, and as they fall in line, the Lessner twins eventually get Rasmussen’s attention, asking them their birth name.

However, Ernst gets slapped by Rasmussen after saying sorry for answering the question instead of Werner. Afterward, Rasmussen takes them to the shore, showing the black flag down on the sands.

As Rasmussen makes his instructions, he tells the young German soldiers that they will defuse all of them between the black flag and the trail. Rasmussen’s impolite attitude makes the young German soldiers suffer; they eventually experience marching onto the dunes surrounded by landmines.

However, upon marching, Rasmussen promises that they will return home in three months, only if they can defuse six mines per hour, for a total of 45,000 mines, as they will also prevent themselves from blowing up.

Afterward, Rasmussen explains that each zone has a number, wherein the stars and the points indicate what types of mines they are. He then warns the young German soldiers to ensure that the mine maps are constantly updated and not blow themselves up.

Later, the young German soldiers prepare themselves for the task, while Rasmussen gives his last instruction that they’ll make a security zone from the rock to the marking by the water. Fortunately, they accomplish their tasks on the dunes.

Afterward, the boys rest in the shelter when Helmut suddenly interrupts Sebastian Schumann from discussing their plans after their mission. Meanwhile, Ernst sees a young local girl across the street and tries befriending her as he steals some of her bread.

Afterward, he shares the bread with his twin, Werner. The following day, the young soldiers’ mission continues. Unfortunately, Rasmussen never bothers to offer them food as they begin experiencing post-war shortages.

Because of that, the young soldiers start to suffer from malnourishment, making them feel weak to work with the landmines. Yet, they still manage to finish their task within an hour.

Afterward, the boys’ leader, Sebastian, goes to Rasmussen’s shelter, asking if he hears when they will receive something to eat. Yet, Sebastian gets terrible news from Rasmussen, saying that they are not the first in line to have food.

Later at night, Wilhem catches Helmut trying to get out of his bed as he tries to find something to eat. The following day, Werner Lessner tries excusing his twin, Ernst, to rest as he is already experiencing vomiting because of malnourishment.

Yet, Rasmussen shows no sympathy and still forces them to work in double. So Ernst relaxes upon working in the dunes while Werner defuses the landmines. Then, on the other hand, Wilhelm suddenly gets his arms blown off after vomiting directly to the landmine.

Shocked, Werner calls for help as he tries to stop the blood from his arms by binding them. Afterward, Rasmussen takes Wilhelm to the vehicle and gets him to the hospital.

Later, the boys get poisoned by rat feces in grain after Helmut gives them the food he gets on a nearby farm. Suddenly, Rasmussen enters their shelter while Helmut immediately admits his fault. Because of that, Rasmussen goes to the midwife’s house to check her barn, and then he finds out that Helmut intendedly stole some food from her barn.

Afterward, Rasmussen orders Sebastian to fill the containers of seawater for the boys to drink up, purging themselves after eating the poisonous food. Then, after drinking, Rasmussen washes them up to clean themselves.

Meanwhile, Sebastian shows Rasmussen a frame that will make clearing the mines much easier. As Rasmussen listens, Sebastian continues explaining that it frames where they’re searching for the mines. However, Rasmussen refuses to accept Sebastian’s proposal and orders him to go to his bed.

Yet, Sebastian still tries to convince Rasmussen, asking him if it will make him better when the boys die at the beach, searching for the mines. However, Rasmussen’s heart is too rough to accept Sebastian’s offer. The following day, Rasmussen visits the hospital to check Wilhelm’s status.

But then, unfortunately, Wilhelm dies, failing to survive the injury. Afterward, he goes to the base to steal some food for the boys, when suddenly Ebbe sees him from afar.

Rasmussen then goes back to the west coast and eventually begins changing his treatment towards the boys more kindly. Once he arrives, he calls the boys to eat the bread he dropped at the front door. Luckily, the boys finally fill their stomachs with food.

Afterward, Rasmussen announces both good and bad news, saying that he visited Wilhelm in the hospital and reports that Wilhem has survived. Unfortunately, Rasmussen chooses to lie instead of telling the truth to maintain morale.

Afterward, he tells the bad news: they’re starting to get behind schedule. Because of that, the boys need to defuse eight times an hour for the whole week. Then, upon watching the boys do their tasks, he finally allows them to use a device invented by Sebastian to improve their productivity per day.

Meanwhile, Ludwig and the Lessner twins deliver the defused mines at the grass field. Afterward, they take their rest outside the shelter while waiting for the night to come so that they can finally go to bed.

However, after Rasmussen wakes up from his bed, Ebbe brings a group of British soldiers to abuse and torment the boys, and it is because of the rumors about Rasmussen stealing food for them.

And while the soldiers make fun of the boys for torturing them, Rasmussen suddenly appears and tries to stop them, saying that he needs the boys to clean the beach.

Fortunately, Rasmussen saves the boys from Ebbe’s soldiers and orders Ludwig to wash himself up. Afterward, Rasmussen walks toward Ebbe, who is about to engine his vehicle, then tells him that what he did is unacceptable.

So, Ebbe immediately confronts him, saying that what is intolerable is the rumors of Rasmussen about getting food for the Germans. But then, Rasmussen lies, telling him that he got the food for himself and his dog. Yet, Ebbe seems not convinced by his excuses and says that Danish people are talking about it as the rumor pisses them off.

So, Rasmussen ripostes, blaming Ebbe for not telling him that he will handle young boys to defuse the landmines. But then, Ebbe seems not affected by his words and even accuses him of being sympathetic towards the Germans.

Ebbe then leaves Rasmussen his last message to remember what the Germans did. Afterward, Rasmussen asks Ebbe for help by getting him older and more experienced men to defuse the landmines.

The following day, Ernst shouts Ludwig’s name to warn his twin, Werner, that there are two mines on top of one another. But unfortunately, Werner did not hear the warning, so he eventually blows himself into bits after defusing the landmine.

Shocked, Ernst immediately runs towards Werner and searches for his body, yet he continues to deny his death even after being comforted by Rasmussen. Ernst then continues panting, saying they must look for Werner immediately.

So, Rasmussen pats his back and assures him that they will find Werner by tomorrow. Leaving him no choice, Rasmussen listens to Ernst until he falls asleep.

A while later, Rasmussen approaches Sebastian, sitting on a field while watching the sunset. Afterward, Rasmussen reveals the truth, admitting his lie and saying that Wilhelm didn’t survive.

But then, Sebastian says that he already knows the truth, and what he did is understandable so that the boys won’t panic about the death of their friend. Suddenly, Rasmussen forms a soft relationship with Sebastian and makes him tell the story of his dog tag.

The following day, Rasmussen brings food again for the boys and lets them play at the beach. Then, upon running through the beach, Rasmussen begins their football game.

However, while Rasmussen and the boys enjoy their casual game, two young German soldiers suddenly appear and tell Ludwig that they are the new soldiers that will join their unit.

Afterward, Ludwig invites them to the beach while Ernst, on the other hand, is enjoying himself alone by catching mouse on the grass field. Then after the football game, Rasmussen proceeds to the next round, which is racing.

Luckily, Helmut wins over Sebastian by raising the flag that he gets from the sand. Afterward, they walk on their back to the shelter when suddenly Rasmussen’s dog, Otto, is blown up in a supposedly cleared zone of the beach after catching the ball that Rasmussen throws.

To Rasmussen’s surprise, he sees his dog die from the dunes’ explosion. Because of that, Rasmussen suddenly snaps back from his old treatment towards the boys and begins abusing them again.

Afterward, he approaches Ludwig to confirm if he’s responsible for Zone 7. So, Ludwig immediately replies, reporting about keeping the tabs on everything. Yet, Rasmussen refuses to believe and accuses Ludwig that he miscounted it, pointing out that he’s the reason why his dog, Otto, died.

Afterward, he throws the ball and orders Ludwig to fetch it using his mouth like a dog. After, Rasmussen orders the boys to fall in line and forces them to march close together across the cleared zones of the beach to confirm that the zones are safe.

He then says that he has to ensure that there are no mistakes. Upon hearing Rasmussen’s words, the boys suddenly feel down after receiving a message from the Sergeant that trusting them was a mistake.

Then suddenly, Rasmussen punches Helmut’s cheeks after hearing him laugh continuously, assuming that Helmut’s making fun of him. Afterward, Rasmussen releases the boys to march on the beach.

Afterward, Helmut tries to convince the boys to bolt before they even die, yet the boys refuse to follow him, and Sebastian says they will remain to stay in the shelter until they finish their mission.

However, Helmut gets pissed at Sebastian’s answers, so he mocks him and decides to leave them behind. But then, Sebastian orders the boys to tie him up on the bed while putting balls to his mouth to keep quiet.

Meanwhile, the midwife runs into Rasmussen’s shelter to inform him that she needs help saving her child. However, she fails to find the Sergeant, so he calls the boys for help.

Afterward, they follow the midwife towards the beach, wherein they find the young local girl playing in an uncleared area of the beach. However, Rasmussen finds out that the boys are not in their shelter upon his arrival.

So, he asks Ernst, who’s lying on his bed, about their whereabouts. After, Rasmussen goes to the beach and sees the midwife and the boys helping her save the young local girl.

As the midwife tries to calm down her child, Ernst suddenly appears and walks through the uncleared beach area, keeping the young local girl calm while Sebastian clears the path for her.

Unfortunately, Ernst successfully convinces the young local girl to get out of the area. Afterward, he hands her over to Sebastian to take her to her mother. However, instead of going back with Sebastian, Ernst commits suicide by walking out into the uncleared area, blowing himself into bits like his twin brother.

Afterward, Rasmussen approaches Sebastian and pats his head, ordering him to wipe his tears as he reassures the grieving Sebastian that they will soon be able to go home once they complete their mission.

Then, after comforting him, Rasmussen says they need Sebastian, and he needs to be strong for them. Fortunately, Rasmussen relents his treatment of the boys and helps them finish their tasks quicker.

The following day, Rasmussen watches the four boys continue to defuse the landmines on the beach. Then, the seven boys, on the other hand, are gradually putting the defused mines on the truckload.

However, while the young soldiers are busy working with their task, a not adequately defused mine is accidentally dropped by a soldier onto a truckload of deactivated mine, setting off a massive chain reaction and killing them all.

Shocked, Ludwig, Sebastian, Helmut, and Rodolf immediately run toward the area where the explosion happened. Upon their arrival, Rasmussen follows from behind.

Unfortunately, only the four of them remain, giving them the trauma they didn’t expect after completing their mission. Afterward, Rasmussen sends them back home as he keeps his promise that they are finally going to send home after defusing all of the mines.

Later, he put before the black flag on the uncleared area. Then, as soon as Rasmussen finishes his task, Rasmussen drives himself on the way to the base to talk with Ebbe.

However, Rasmussen suddenly receives news from Ebbe that he sends the surviving four young German boys to join the team to defuse landmines without a map to aid Skallingen’s coastal area.

Ebbe then says they need the boys there and does not show sympathy about their possibility of dying upon their mission. The movie ends with Rasmussen rescuing the four young German soldiers after hearing from Ebbe that all Germans in their country must stay until all the mines are clear.

And without the permission of Ebbe, Rasmussen decides to make a letter for the Danish soldiers in Skallingen coastal area, leaving Ebbe and the other Danish soldiers behind to save the four boys.

Luckily, the soldiers from Skallingen obey Rasmussen’s order and take them on the vehicle truck to meet the Sergeant. Afterward, Rasmussen commands the boys to run and reach the border of Germany that is about 500 meters away.

Rasmussen then watches the boys run to their freedom and leaves the area afterward.