Based on the real prison diaries of a chaplain, the 2024 film Quisling: The Final Days plunges the viewer into the raw, unsettling last moments of one of history's most infamous traitors. Directed by the masterful Erik Poppe, this intense psychological drama forces a claustrophobic confrontation with Vidkun Quisling, the man whose name became a global synonym for betrayal. As a liberated but unforgiving Norway prepares to seek vengeance, Quisling sits in a cold Akershus Fortress cell, but a more profound and personal battle rages within.

The film frames this descent through the fraught relationship between Quisling, portrayed with arrogant ferocity by Gard B. Eidsvold, and the prison chaplain Peder Olsen, played with conflicted empathy by Anders Danielsen Lie. In a series of agonizing, raw encounters, the pastor attempts to guide Quisling toward an impossible repentance, only to be met by the unyielding, delusional self-belief of a man who still sees himself as a patriot and a messiah. The viewer is pulled into a chilling, emotionally charged duel of wills and faith, revealing a man who, to the bitter end, could not—or would not—see the monstrous truth of his actions.

With tour-de-force performances at its core, Quisling: The Final Days is more than a historical recount; it's a gut-wrenching examination of complicity, the seductive nature of authoritarianism, and the twisted mindset that believes betrayal is a righteous act. It is a film that dares to ask how evil becomes so profoundly mundane and, in doing so, holds up an uncomfortable mirror to our own time.

Erik Poppe is a Norwegian writer, director, and former cinematographer. His credits include A Thousand Times Good Night , The King’s Choice (16), and Utøya 22 July. Quisling: The Final Days is his latest film.