The film starts at the Sala front in Finland in 1940. The 25-year-old Norwegian Max Manus fights as a volunteer alongside the Finns against the Russian invaders. In March, a cease-fire is declared and foreign volunteers are sent home. However, on the 9th of April Hitler invades Norway.
Max Manus starts in the resistance by joining friends printing illegal newspapers. Being of a reckless and wild nature he is soon caught. When the Nazi police show up in his apartment he chooses the fastest way out: jumping through the 2nd floor window! Miraculously he survives and wakes up in a hospital bed where he immediately starts planning his escape. His escape route takes him to England where he goes through sabotage training with the Free Norwegian Forces. In 1943 he parachutes over Norway to rejoin the growing resistance movement. The Max Manus legend as Norway’s most famous and colourful resistance fighter is born. His main adversary is the head of Gestapo
in Norway, Siegfried Fehmer. A cultured, well-dressed and extremely bright police officer from Munich with movie star look and presence, Fehmer is also a charmer with the ladies, but an extremely dangerous opponent. As the war progresses he makes the hunt for Max Manus and his group his main objective.
While Max Manus was the ultimate winner and Fehmer the loser, his war experiences slowly ruined Max’s nerves and turned him into an alcoholic. He was saved by the love of an exceptional woman who got him on his feet and helped him establish himself as a successful businessman and respected member of society.

We believe Max Manus’ story is important. It tells us about the value of fighting for something you believe in with everything you’ve got. But the film doesn’t hide that such a fight can scar your soul for the rest of your life. Max saw his friends die, one after the other, and every time he lost a piece of himself.
In a time where videogames instantly give you a new life after you die, and war is usually something remote on TV from far away lands, we believe this movie has an important message to the audience: violence is gritty, and has serious consequences both physically and mentally. We wanted to emphasize how our lead characters are being worn down as human beings by what they go through.
But this is also a celebration of the things Max Manus and the “Oslo-gang” he belonged to achieved. Because some things are worth fighting for - and some things are worth dying for. It is also a story of how important friendship, hope and love is in the darkest hours and that those values that will carry us through the night and into a new day. The film has been seen by a quarter of the Norwegian population and sold to more than 30 countries. That is of course extremely gratifying, but to us, our greatest achievement was that it proved a favourite among young people - including the girls! The serious story we wanted to tell communicated with a generation who usually relates only to American mass entertainment.