The 12th Man (film)  The 12th Man () is a 2017 Norwegian historical drama directed by Harald Zwart. (Shooting script by Harald Zwart). Thomas Gullestad stars as the protagonist Jan Baalsrud, who escapes from Germans in Rebbenesøya, via Lyngen Fjord and Manndalen, to neutral Sweden in the spring of 1943. The film, which is based on historical events, was adapted from the book "Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him" (2001), written by Tore Haug and Astrid Karlsen Scott. Producer Veslemoey Ruud Zwart secured the film rights for this book in 2004. The book and its film adaptation have the same protagonist as Arne Skouen's Oscar-nominated film "Nine Lives" (1957), in which Baalsrud's courage and stamina were also emphasized. Jan Baalsrud"'s" story was also told in "We Die Alone" by David Howarth. Unlike the book it is based on, "The 12th Man" emphasizes the efforts of those who helped Baalsrud escape, which is in line with Baalsrud's own statements about the local population's courage. The plot also details the pursuit of Baalsrud from the Gestapo leadership's perspective, depicting the escape as a cat-and-mouse game between Kurt Stage and Baalsrud. According to German documents, the Nazis believed that the resistance group had perished in a blast. There are no reports indicating that the Germans knew to hunt for Baalsrud, who claims that he killed two German soldiers in the fight. "The 12th Man" tells the dramatic story of Jan Baalsrud's escape from the Nazis during the Second World War. In Shetland, 12 Norwegian resistance fighters board a fishing boat with eight tons of TNT and cross the North Sea to Operation Martin a plan to sabotage German military facilities. The mission gets into trouble soon after reaching Norway, where their local contact is long dead and their identity is compromised by a German sympathiser who immediately informs the Germans about their arrival. A German warship locates the fishing boat and opens fire. The resistance fighters ignite the TNT and jump into the water near the fjord. Eleven of the fighters are rounded up by the Germans on the beach. One is shot on the spot and 10 are captured. Two die from torture while being interrogated, the other captive fighters are executed on Tromsøya, after the German officers interrogate and torture them about their mission.