Hamilton: In the Interest of the Nation 2012

In Stockholm, Carl Hamilton is a Commander in the Swedish Foreign Intelligence Service. The film opens with him sharing a quiet moment in his girlfriend’s flat, a calm that stands in stark contrast to the danger that follows.

He is soon dispatched on a mission to Central Asia, where he must infiltrate and monitor an international gang of smugglers and arms dealers who are poised to sell Swedish-made GPS-guided artillery shells to terrorists. To pull it off, he has to convince everyone he meets that he is Russian, a deception that becomes his lifeline as the operation unfolds. When the deal goes wrong and the criminals start to suspect him, the situation spirals out of control: he must kill and then run, leaving the munitions out of reach and the trail dangerously cold.

Back in Sweden, a new superior challenges him, and the pressure wears on him. After a four-month, unexplained absence, he returns and reveals that he wants to quit the job. Their relationship briefly rekindles, but his girlfriend—a doctor—must rush away in the middle of the night to respond to an emergency, leaving him more unmoored than ever.

Haunted by what he has done, he drifts into sleep only to relive the worst moments of his mission. In a nightmare that crescendos with his senses blurring the line between soldier and target, he lashes out and kills her in his sleep. He frantically stages a break-in to fake evidence of a struggle before slipping away. He blames his mentor, DG, for turning him into a killing machine, and the two confront the costs of his training.

DG urges him not to surrender to the authorities and instead sends him abroad to rescue a Swedish technician believed to be entangled in the smuggling plot. But a U.S.-based mercenary outfit, Sectragon, is already plotting a fresh war as a profitable enterprise, heightening the stakes and the danger.

The conspirators even attempt to assassinate a foreign head of state right on Swedish soil. With the help of Mouna al Fathar, a PLO operative with whom Hamilton has a close, evolving relationship, he succeeds in thwarting the mission. In the aftermath, he seeks out the police officer who has been investigating his girlfriend’s death, confessing his guilt and remorse while asking her to drop the case. Yet he remains committed to a dangerous line of work, convinced that his actions are warranted by the nation’s interests and the fragile balance of global power.