The Unthinkable (2018) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Alex returns to his village after his mother Klara is killed in one of the explosions during Midsummer. Driven by grief and a desire to reconnect with his past, he decides to buy the church piano that he and his childhood friend Anna once played together. The piano serves as a tangible link to his happier childhood memories before his family fractured.

• Alex returns village
• mother death
• church piano
• Stockholm explosions

Alex becomes angry when he discovers that Anna has built a life without him, she's married to Kim and has a daughter named Elin. Since Anna moved away to Stockholm years earlier when they were children, Alex feels abandoned and hurt. Seeing her settled family life triggers his pride and unresolved feelings about being left behind.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Anna moved away from the village in 2005, which coincided with Alex's mother Klara leaving the family, setting the stage for his emotional wound.

• Alex Anna reunion
• anger
• childhood friends
• Anna husband Kim

During the chaos at the transformer station, Anna initially tells Alex that Kim has been killed by helicopters. However, this turns out to be untrue, Kim actually survives. At the end of the film, Kim comes back and takes Anna away while Alex is losing his memories, leaving Alex alone.

Foreshadowing: There are hints of tension and distrust between Anna and Alex throughout the film, which makes her misleading statement about Kim's death believable in the moment.

• Kim death
• Anna husband
• helicopter attack
• Kim survival

Björn crashes his plane into an attacking helicopter to save Alex, Anna, and Elin. Despite their strained relationship, Björn was cold and distant throughout Alex's childhood, his sacrifice demonstrates that his love for his son was always present, if unspoken. He chooses to die to ensure their survival.

Foreshadowing: The film establishes early on that Björn is a reluctant, distant father, making his ultimate act of self-sacrifice a powerful contrast to his earlier behavior.

• Björn sacrifice
• father death
• Alex father
• helicopter attack
• plane crash

Chemical weapons are released during the attacks on Sweden. As these chemicals rain down over the village, they cause people to lose their memories. The film reveals during the credits that approximately 800,000 Swedes are affected by this memory loss, including Alex.

Foreshadowing: The strange omen of dead birds falling from the sky earlier hints at the toxic contamination present in the rain.

• memory loss
• chemical weapons
• Sweden attack
• 800000 memory loss

The piano represents Alex and Anna's shared childhood, it's the instrument they played together years ago. When Alex returns to buy it, he's attempting to reclaim that lost part of his identity and reconnect with his past. At the end, as memories fade, the music becomes the last thread connecting him to who he was.

Foreshadowing: Alex's decision to return specifically for the piano is established early as his primary motivation for coming back to the village.

• church piano
• childhood memory
• Alex Anna piano
• music symbolism

The film hints that Russia is responsible for the attacks. During the credits, images of Vladimir Putin appear alongside news clips about the catastrophe, suggesting Russian involvement in orchestrating the explosions and chemical weapons attack on Sweden.

Foreshadowing: The attacks are portrayed as a coordinated national assault rather than random terrorism, pointing toward a state actor.

• Russia attack
• Putin
• Sweden invasion
• who attacked Sweden

Anna's mother is a government minister who escapes Stockholm after Parliament is destroyed. She heads toward the countryside but is ultimately killed during the enemy attack on the village church while the civilians are seeking shelter and trying to make contact with the military.

Foreshadowing: Anna's mother is established as a political figure early on, and her escape from Stockholm sets up her eventual journey to the village.

• Anna mother death
• minister killed
• village church attack

The helicopters crash and birds fall due to contaminated rain caused by the chemical weapons. The strange phenomenon serves as an ominous warning of the toxic substances being deployed in the attacks, affecting both aircraft and wildlife.

Foreshadowing: This is the first visual indication that the attacks involve more than conventional explosives, they include chemical contamination.

• contaminated rain
• helicopter crash
• dead birds
• chemical weapons

Alex tells Anna that Kim is dead inside the burning church, but the truth is more complicated. Anna had already told Alex earlier that Kim was killed, and Alex simply passes this information along. However, Kim is actually still alive, he returns at the end to take Anna away, suggesting there may have been confusion or miscommunication in the chaos.

Foreshadowing: The fog of war and rapid series of events create opportunities for misinformation to spread among the characters.

• Kim dead lie
• Alex Anna church
• Kim alive
• communication confusion