Hammarskjöld

'Hammarskjöld' is a 2023 Swedish biographical drama thriller film based on the life of Dag Hammarskjöld. The direction is by the Danish Per Fly, who has also written the script together with Ulf Ryberg. It is produced by Patrick Ryborn and has been recorded in South Africa, New York, Trollhättan, Österlen and Norway.

The film revolves around the last nine months of the life of Hammarskjöld, played by Mikaël Persbrandt. It is described as a political thriller during the Cold War in 1961, at the same time as it is a personal portrait of the Swedish economist, jurist, civil servant, diplomat and national author, one of the most prominent internationally in times modern.

The plot follows Dag Hammarskjöld as he has one year remaining as UN Secretary General, before his retirement to Österlen in 1961. However, the Cold War is in full swing and the focus is on the Congo, where Hammarskjöld leads UN troops in their first war operation to negotiate peace, a mission considered impossible by many and suicidal by others. At the same time, an old friend reappears in New York, causing him to question his priorities between duty to the UN and friendship. As UN peacekeepers come under attack by mercenaries hired by the mining industry, Hammarskjöld embarks on a last desperate attempt to end the conflict, taking a flight in September 1961 that It would prove to be the most dangerous of his life.

The cast also includes Edvin Endre as a young Dag Hammarskjöld, Francis Francis Chouler as Bill Ranalla, Richard Brake as Hunter, Sara Soulie as Hanna, Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Moïse Tshombe, Cian Barry as Wieschhoff, Colin Salmon as Ralph Bunche, Adam Neill as Lord Lansdowne, Celine Tshika as Ruth Tshombé, Thure Lindhardt as Peter Levin, Sanna Sundqvist as Greta Beskow, Mattias Nordkvist as Bo Beskow and Sven Ahlström as Sture Linnér, among others.