The 12th Man chronicles the harrowing true story of Jan Baalsrud, Thomas Gullestad's daring escape from Nazi-occupied Norway, a survival odyssey that tests breath, willpower, and resolve against a brutal winter landscape.
From Shetland, twelve Norwegian resistance fighters set out on Operation Martin aboard a fishing boat loaded with eight tons of TNT, aiming to sabotage German military facilities. The mission is compromised when their local contact is dead and a German sympathiser betrays their presence, drawing the attention of a pursuing warship.
A German warship locates the boat and opens fire. The fighters ignite the TNT and plunge into the icy waters near the fjord, their plan unraveling in a burst of gunfire and smoke. On the shore, eleven fighters are rounded up: one is shot on the spot and ten are captured. Two die from torture while being interrogated, and the remaining captives face execution on the island of Tromsøya.
The sole surviving fighter, Baalsrud, escapes by hiding and swimming through the sub-zero fjord, a perilous route that tests body and mind to the limit. He receives help from locals who risk their own lives to shelter and guide him, keeping him hidden from pursuers as he moves toward safety.
Baalsrud’s journey continues off the island of Rebbenesøya to Sweden, a path that threads through Lyngenhalvøya and Manndalen, and across a landscape that dwarfs a man’s strength with cold and endurance. The film follows his arduous trek, showing how every small act of courage—fleeing, hiding, helping—becomes a lifeline in a hostile winter.
The story unfolds through the perspectives of a tight-knit circle of fighters and civilians, including Håkon T. Nielsen as Erik Reichelt, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen as Marius Grønvoll, Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Kurt Stage, Alexander Zwart as Sjur Ludvigsen Trovåg, Daniel Frikstad as Gabriel Salvesen, Eirik Risholm Velle as Per Blindheim, Eric Dirnes as Bjørn Norman Bolstad, Marie Blokhus as Gudrun Grønvoll, and Vegar Hoel as Vegar Hoel. Their presence—and the choices they make under pressure—helps shape Baalsrud’s survival and the broader narrative of resistance under occupation.
With a stark, immersive tone, the film emphasizes the brutal reality of pursuit, the fragility of ordinary lives, and the extraordinary endurance required to outlast an unforgiving winter. It remains faithful to a history of sacrifice and perseverance, portraying the cost of escape and the quiet bravery of those who risk everything to help a single man reach safety.
