The Last Contract
The Last Contract (Swedish: Sista kontraktet) is a 1998 Swedish thriller film directed by Kjell Sundvall [1]. It is a work of fiction about the circumstances surrounding the actual murder of the Swedish Social Democratic Prime Minister Olof Palme on 28 February 1986. A Swedish police officer (played by Mikael Persbrandt) discovers the plan to assassinate Palme and tries to prevent it. The film also stars Pernilla August, Reine Brynolfsson and Cecilia Ljung.
| The Last Contract | |
|---|---|
 The Last Contract British DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Kjell Sundvall |
| Produced by | Börje Hansson |
| Written by | John W. Grow Mats Arehn |
| Starring | Michael Kitchen Mikael Persbrandt Pernilla August |
Release date |
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Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | Swedish English |
The film is based on a novel by an anonymous writer, who used the pseudonym "John W. Grow", which suggests that a British professional assassin (played by Michael Kitchen) was hired to kill Olof Palme.[2]
Plot
The film suggests that a British professional hit-man was hired by the CIA to assassinate the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, because of Palme's stance on nuclear weapons in Scandinavia . The hit-man (Michael Kitchen) works for money alone and is very careful. He finds a Norwegian man (Bjørn Floberg) that hates the Swedish P.M. He also involves a man to be blamed (this character is Christer Pettersson, first convicted (by a disagreeing court [Note 1] ) of the real assassination, but later acquitted in the appealing court[Note 2]. The Norwegian man kills Palme just as his wife notices Christer Pettersson. Soon afterwards the hitman kills the killer, and all traces pointing to the professional hitman are gone.
Cast
- Mikael Persbrandt ... Roger Nyman, the secret police
- Michael Kitchen ... John Gales alias Ray Lambert, the professional who assassinates the hit-man in order to clean up.
- Pernilla August ... Nina Nyman, Roger Nyman's wife
- Reine Brynolfsson ... Bo Ekman, police officer and Roger Nyman's best friend
- Bjørn Floberg ... Tom Nielsen, the Palme assassin, who is then killed himself by John Gales alias Ray Lambert.
- Jacqueline Ramel ... Helene Salonen, of the secret police
- Cecilia Ljung ... Holmgren, Lisa, journalist
- Joakim Forslund ... Markus Nyman, Roger's child
- Julia Brådhe-Dehnisch ... Josefin Nyman (as Julia Dehnisch)
- Agnes Granberg ... Sara Nyman, Roger's child
- Johan Lindell ... Bernhard Lange, of the secret police
- Mathias Henrikson ... Peter Bark
- Donald Högberg ... Appelqvist, of the secret police
- Per Ragnar ... kg, of the secret police
- Paul Birchard ... Bertram Norris
- Anders Ekborg ... Bengt Löfgren
- Leif Andrée ... Max Berg, the corrupt journalist
- Ola Isedal ... Karl Larsson, the drug addict
- Stephen Webber ... Wilson, the American
- Stig Engström ... Bartender at the press club
- Emil Forselius ... The Robber
- Claudia Galli ... Shop Assistant
- Tshamano Sebe ... Ery Sontanga, the African
- Faith Maqoqa ... Judy Sontanga, the African
- Bankole Omotoso ... Luwamba
- Dipuo Huma ... Lambert's cleaning lady
- Stephan Karlsén ... Arkivman
- Sven-Åke Wahlström ... Palmehatare
- Lasse Petterson ... Palmehatare
- Berndt Östman ... Portier (as Bernt Östman)
- Roger S. Karlsson ... Guard
- Bo Bertil Lundqvist ... Statsministern
References
Notes
- Swedish courts don't use a jury, but the professional judge and three politically appointed so called "nämndemän", the judge didn't appreciate the prosecutor's proof, but the three "nämndemän" did
- Swedish appeal courts don't use a jury, but three professional judges and two politically appointed so called "nämndemän", the appeal court's acquittal was unanimous
External links
- The Last Contract on IMDb
- The Last Contract at the Swedish Film Institute Database
- Variety (subscription required)