Number 24 (2025) Movie Review – The cost of freedom

The cost of freedom

What is the cost of freedom? How many lives are worth losing to uphold these values? 1? 100? 1000? More? Or is there no substitute for human life, even if it means oppressing the very values we treasure today?

These are questions that Netflix’s latest excellent war drama Number 24 explores across its 2 hour run-time, and it does an excellent job of encapsulating this across its gritty, grounded story.

Part biographical drama, part thought provoking thriller, Number 24 (Nr 24) is a Norwegian film that pays homage to the country’s most decorated individual in the best way possible. With an interesting structure of moving between the then-present and war-time, the story of Gunnar Sønsteby is retold through two separate storylines that interweave together into a beautiful crescendo of acting and drama.

The film opens with a seemingly innocuous meeting of two men up on a mountainside, discussing ideals and the cost of freedom. One of these men happens to be Gunnar Sønsteby, and he’s with his pal, Erling Solheim.

Fast forward 3 years and Nazi Germany invade Norway, marching into Oslo with around 800 men who take the country by force. Young apprentice Gunnar is not happy with his country being occupied and decides to resist Nazi-Germany, determined to protect and fight for his country’s freedom – no matter the cost.

This story then eventually sees him become the leader of the resistance fighters in Norway, embarking on a ton of sabotage missions to push the Nazis back and out of Norway for good.

There’s no glamour or fanfare here though, and instead the film bleakly retells this story while showing the harsh realities of war – for those within the resistance and the innocent bystanders. This contrast really helps give Number 24 a thematic edge, as it constantly challenges the notion of freedom and just how steep a cost this is to achieve in an era stifled by misinformation and propaganda.

This is all told to a group of doe-eyed students at a speech in the second timeline, taking place in the near-present. Here, Gunnar retells his story while also stopping from time to time to take questions from the audience. Some of these are pretty simple, including revealing that yes, Gunnar did kill during the war, but others are not so easy to answer.

There are other questions that challenge Gunnar’s personality and ethics, maKing him question himself. While he never breaks his resolve, it’s clear that there are moral quandaries here that he’d rather keep locked up in his own self-perceived “five drawers”. Don’t worry, this analogy will make perfect sense when you watch the film – and trust me, you absolutely should.

While the editing can feel a bit disparate at times, toward the end, the two timeline-structure makes perfect sense as a big reveal goes back to the opening scene of the movie and recontextualizes part of what we’ve seen, all the while sandwiching this drama around the overarching themes.

Both Erik Hivju and Sjur Brean do admirable jobs bringing Gunnar to life in both his older and younger versions, and there are some definite stand-out scenes for both parts of this character. This is especially prevalent toward the final act, and as we move into the more harrowing parts of Gunnar’s missions, and the line between right and wrong starts to blur and distort.

Alongside this drama is a minimalist musical score, which is suitably subdued until near the end when we receive a montage and a beautifully haunting set of scenes set to ‘Exit Music’ by Radiohead.

Visually, Number 24 looks great too and the gritty cold feel of Norway is captured in its rawest form. It helps that the film is set on location within Rjukan at times, while the interiors and other areas feel incredibly realistic as the 1940’s.

This certainly isn’t a film that glorifies any aspect of the war though, nor of Gunnar Sønsteby’s life. This is very much a realistic recollection of the man’s life, including all the highs, lows, and ugly secrets nestled around the dark corners.

While some debate whether Gunnar Sønsteby was really a hero or not, less debatable however, are the efforts this man has made in his life to preserve and hold true his ideals of freedom. In that respect, it’s hard not to admire what the man has achieved in his life, and Number 24 does an excellent job of capturing the raw essence of his fight, and how that still resonates with us to this day.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!