Kidnapning (2017)

The film is set in Copenhagen. The four siblings—Winni, Oskar, Anders (the narrator), and the youngest, Bertram—are cared for on her own by their overwhelmed mother while their father serves a prison sentence for an accidental smuggling offense. Just as they are celebrating his release, they lose their apartment because of unpaid rent. Their mother suffers a fainting spell and has to go to the hospital, so their father temporarily puts the children up in the shabby hut belonging to his brother Georg. Georg is an unsuccessful petty criminal. Although he promises their father not to pull any jobs for the time being, he is already planning to kidnap eight-year-old Bernhard Lacroix Eriksen von der Lippe, the son of a wealthy banker, and persuades the four siblings to act as the decoy. While their father looks for an honest job and eventually finds one, the four children blend in at Bernhard’s costume party and kidnap him after a few amusing mishaps. Georg hides him in the apartment and demands a million in ransom over the phone. They cannot keep Bernhard hidden from their father, so they introduce him as the new friend of Bertram, who is the same age. Bernhard likes the siblings and sees the amateurish kidnapping as a welcome adventure in an otherwise boring life. The next day, their father learns about the kidnapping from the newspaper. He confronts Georg and asks Bernhard to make it look as though everything was just a joke. Bernhard agrees. Butler Mikkelsen, who is looking after Bernhard while his father is away, sees a chance to make a fortune. He contacts Bernhard’s father by video call and shows him a fake ransom note demanding ten times the ransom—apparently planning to pocket the difference. He is immediately given power of attorney over all the accounts. At the handover, Mikkelsen does take the boy, but he has informed the police, who arrest the family. At the identification, Bernhard insists that these are not his kidnappers, but no one believes him—not even his father, who has since arrived. By using a trick, Bertram manages to escape from the police station and follow Bernhard. Armed with their paintball guns, they confront Mikkelsen, who has begun enjoying his new wealth. In gratitude, Bernhard’s father gives the family a house he no longer needs.