Full Description
A razor-sharp thriller written and directed by award-winning Danish filmmaker Ole Christian Madsen (Flame and Citron), Powder Keg depicts the moments leading up to the 2015 domestic terror attacks that roiled Copenhagen. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) stars as Rico, a burnt-out SWAT officer unaware that his path will tragically converge with Finn, a frustrated filmmaker, and Dan, an underemployed synagogue security guard. As Europe is still reeling from the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, the three men encounter their own struggles related to the fallout. Rico attempts to overcome post-traumatic stress and a debilitating injury, Finn faces opposition to free-speech and is pushing against his meddling producers, and Dan struggles to find work due to rising xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, Omar, a recently released criminal, grows increasingly radicalized and begins planning the attack that will inevitably seal everyone’s fate. Madsen adeptly weaves between the four main characters, building a foreboding sense of tension while painting an empathetic portrait of the victims and the perpetrator himself. Brooding and frenetically paced, Powder Keg is both an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a stark exploration of the dangerous consequences of nationalism and home-grown extremism.
