The Black Pimpernel (2007)

• 46% of users liked it
  (413 ratings)

Ulf Hultberg's The Black Pimpernel hearkens back to the autumn of 1973. On September 11 of that year, a military coup overthrew Salvador Allende with the full support and backing of the U.S. The said events are well-known by U.S. audiences, but the remainder of the story rests on an obscure footnote… More Ulf Hultberg's The Black Pimpernel hearkens back to the autumn of 1973. On September 11 of that year, a military coup overthrew Salvador Allende with the full support and backing of the U.S. The said events are well-known by U.S. audiences, but the remainder of the story rests on an obscure footnote seldom discussed in North America. Out of the ashes arose a hero for all time: Harald Edelstam (Michael Nyqvist), a man nicknamed "The Black Pimpernel" for his courageous efforts saving resistance fighters during the Second World War. When Edelstam learned of the mass tortures wrought by Augusto Pinochet's men at a Santiago sports stadium, he immediately began to fear for the surrounding populace and sliced through all accepted diplomatic and logistical protocol to offer protection to both the Swedish and Cuban embassies, much to the consternation of numerous diplomats in Chile and the Swedish government per se. With The Black Pimpernel, Nyqvist dramatizes Edelstam's incredible tale. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi