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GUERILLA GIRL

By Fabian WULLENWEBER

THURA FILM & OBEL FILM A/S - as PROD

Thriller - Development 2009

- Year of production
- 2009
- Genres
- Thriller, Drama
- Countries
- DENMARK, COSTA RICA, GERMANY
- Languages
- DANISH, ENGLISH
- Budget
- 5 - 10 M$
- Duration
- 145 mn
- Director(s)
- Fabian WULLENWEBER
- Writer(s)
- Stefan JAWORSKI
- Producer(s)
- Michael OBEL (Thura Film)
- Synopsis
- Sophia Berg (20) is a Greenpeace activist, on board a rubber dinghy headed for an oil tanker at sea. In the home of Head of Department of the foreign ministry Lars Berg and his wife, Merete watch the news, on TV where their daughter, Sophia, appears on the screen in the rubber dinghy. Lars rushes to his offices, where the foreign minister is expecting him, and he has to assure the minister that Sophia’s Greenpeace activities will come to an end now. It’s been going on for a while, with protests in front of the Youth House, protests against mink farms, and so on, but enough is enough and if it doesn’t stop now, Lars will have to resign from his job as Head of Department. Lars picks up Sophia at the police station. Back home, Lars and Sophia get into an argument, and the next morning, Lars is asking Sophia to stay out of problems or to move from the house. Sophia decides to move for good, she announces that she will never be back since her parents do not accept her as she is. Sophia is being picked up by her boyfriend, Oliver who also is an Greenpeace activist. Sophia’s mother Merete is sad and a crisis between her and Lars is developing through the story because of the family and career dilemma. “We cannot throw our daughter out of the house because she is not like us”, Merete says.
  Lars briefs the foreign minister that he, on behalf of the minister, is supporting the windmill producer Vestas, who are expanding to a new export market in Colombia. We also understand from the conversation that Lars tells the minister that everything’s fine with Sophia and that they’ve found an open slot for her at UCLA in California. Lars is concerned about his daughter since they have not heard word from her for a long period. He is meeting a friend from Interpol, who Lars has asked for a personal favor. Interpol have been able to trace Sophia and Oliver crossing the border to Germany, taking a train from Hamburg and arriving in Amsterdam four and a half months ago. But since then they haven’t registered any activity with them. Another day at the Foreign Ministry two PET (secret service police) officers show Lars a tape that was recorded two hours and 50 minutes ago at the central station in Bogotá, Colombia. We see a car with Sophia behind the wheel and Oliver coming rushing in with Jakob Birkedal from Vestas windmill company. Oliver jumps in the car, puts a hood over Jakob’s head. Sophia speeds away, out to a hidden military camp in the jungle. We’re at a faction of the rebel group CLF, Columbian Liberation Front, a newly started group similar to FARC. The PET agents want to send a group of elite soldiers to rescue the hostage, but Lars isn’t happy about this, as the PET agents can only guarantee the safety of the hostage. The PET agents don’t know that it was Sophia behind the wheel with the hostage and Lars fears losing his daughter during the operation, which is why he tells the PET agents that he will handle the case from this point. The minister summons Lars to a meeting with the leader of the PET group. He wants Lars to lead the operation, which will be based on negotiation, but if the negotiations fail, the PET group will be standing by with a military operation. Via webcam, they talk to the leader of the CLF, who presents their demands: if the farmers’ are handed back the land that Vestas has bought, they’ll release Jakob Birkedal. Lars dismisses the demands, as he claims that you shouldn’t let the other party dictate the circumstances from the get-go. In the Columbian jungle, both Oliver and Sophia are nervous, since Lars won’t give the back the farmer land. In the worst case scenario, this will mean that the hostage is killed – and worst of all, Sophia proposed the kidnapping, since her experience, so far has been that her father always mediates during diplomatic conflicts. But this time he’s different. Back home, Lars can’t sleep. He hears a sound from his computer and gets out of bed. It’s Sophia calling him to ask why they won’t accept the demand to give the land back to the farmers? It’s very emotional for Lars to be on a conversation with his daughter. Lars suggests that they demand money instead of land, since that would leave a bigger chance of getting the hostage back alive. After a meeting with the minister about offering money to the CLF, Lars calls the leader of the CLF, Eduardo, and convinces him to accept two million dollars as compensation for the farmers’ loss of their land. In return, Jakob is to be released. The Danish embassy in Bogotá finds a courier to take care of the handover. When Eduardo returns to the camp, he tells everybody that the handover had gone bad – he was tricked and had to flee for his life with an empty suitcase. In anger, he shoots Jakob in front of the webcam, when Sophia refuses to do it. The foreign minister discovers that Lars’ daughter, Sophia, is behind the kidnapping and Lars has to admit that he has known all along. He’s suspended on the spot. At home, things are rocky. Lars and Merete are going through hard times because of these dramatically developments with their daughter. Merete argues that they should understand this “wake-up call” and change their life, “It makes no sense to live a life where they do not have space for their daughter, maybe she is a Greenpeace activist, but she is not a criminal because she is following her beliefs”. Lars goes to Bogotá to find Sophia and bring her home. PET, secret service police goes after Lars to stop him. Lars manages to track down the courier that was supposed to deliver the 2 million dollars to Eduardo. The courier tells him that he did his job as planned and Lars manages to convince him to take him to the spot where the handover took place. Lars makes his way into the jungle. Sophia has now been taken prisoner, as Eduardo has figured out that it was her father they negotiated with. Oliver (Sophia’s boyfriend) is cleaning Eduardo’s jeep, when he suddenly discovers a 100 dollar bill covered in blood. He freezes in horror and goes to tell Sophia what he’s discovered. They prepare to run off together, but Sophia just needs to take something with her. Eduardo catches her and threatens her with his gun. Meanwhile, Lars finds Oliver by the jeep in the camp. Lars has drawn a gun and orders Oliver to find him Sophia. They head towards Sophia and Eduardo. When the four stand face to face, Lars is knocked down from behind. Sophia and Lars wake up in the same tent, as prisoners. Eduardo pulls Lars aside to talk with him. Lars attempts to negotiate with Eduardo and offers him 10 million dollars in return for releasing Sophia – and then Lars, when the money has been transferred. Eduardo agrees to it. Sophia is released and Oliver drives her to the Danish embassy. Lars contacts Denmark, but just as he gets through to the foreign minister, he knocks over the laptop and the webcam. Eduardo gets up and threatens Lars with his gun. In that instant, Lars sees some red dots on Eduardo’s face – the Special Forces have arrived. A dramatic scene is played out. Oliver and Eduardo are shot dead by the Special Forces and the helicopter hovers above the camp with Lars and Sophia inside. Arriving back home at the airport, Lars and Sophia are greeted by a crowd of reporters, Police and their family. The reunion is joyous and Lars and Sophia face justice and a better life.