Sgt. Carl Rasmussen

We can't know what did during the war but from his uniform I would guess he fought with the English before the liberation. he might've been a paratrooper.

Also, he DIDN'T molest or starve them purposefully. It's not like there was an abundant amount of food everywhere and it was made clear to him that he wasn't to smuggle in food for them because the native population was prioritised first.

It seems to me that you didn't really follow the whole film through and through.

I don't know if his character is based upon a real person, but from his armband (in the beginning of the movie) it would suggest he's a freedom fighter from the war which means he was emotional involved in the war and fought the nazis on first hand one way or another.

You want him to wear his uniform all the time :-)

I thought I could reply in a constructive way as the OP didn't seem to have watched the same film and probably doesn't know much about history, psychology, or the military. Then I noticed the OP calling the English cowards further down the thread and failing to understand the nature of occupation - so troll seemed confirmed. It's pointless to attempt to engage with someone who is ignorant but I will nonetheless post my perspective for the benefit of others.

Rasmussen is wearing the uniform of the British Parachute Regiment (2nd Battalion I think), and would likely have been a Danish volunteer who signed up after his own country was occupied - hardly cowardly behaviour.

His country littered with the legacy of war. He has been fighting to get his country back and is rightly pissed off - as displayed during the start of the film where he yells "this is my land (country)" at the column of prisoners after beating one and reclaiming a Danish flag.

Also, he isn't an officer (i.e. commissioned). He's a sergeant as denoted by the three stripes on his uniform. Sergeant is a non-commissioned rank and typically the idea of the "grizzled soldier" is a senior enlisted man - such as a sergeant. They are often represented as border-line bullies, harsh but honourable and they get the job done. As such he is characterised in the film pretty well.

As the citizen of an occupied nation dragged into war his hostility and general indifference towards German soldiers is understandable. These boys ARE soldiers and, despite their age, representatives of a brutal enemy. A number of them had seen combat.

As someone else has said, he didn't starve or molest the young soldiers. He was unpleasant for much of the film but when he was severe (or molesting, as the OP puts it) it was not without cause, to reinforce a valid point or because he had been ordered by the officer above him. Food was short because the citizens of Denmark were given priority over a defeated enemy. When he chastised the boys after his dog was killed it was because they failed to clear the minefield - this could/and almost does cost a civilian their life.

Actually, I thought - and the film tried to present it this way - that he was a decent soldier and human being who found himself in a difficult situation (again caused by the Germans). He was actually rather sympathetic to the boys as boys once he starts seeing them as more than simply the enemy. On several occasions he puts himself at risk in their best interests: for example, when he goes to the aid post to check on the condition of the injured boy and collect food and is later chastised by the officer, next when he intervenes to stop the officers threatening the boys with a pistol, towards the end where he demands the officer send the boys home, and then...

I thought his character was actually quite realistically represented. He was an *beep* at the start but I wouldn't say he was a coward or particularly brutal to the boys. There's even a brief scene where he is rocking on his heels alone in his room - the tell-tale sign of a tortured soul.

I'd actually say Rasmussen was the opposite of a coward.

A good film IMO.

(Edit: The only time I would say he's truly nasty is when he makes them walk the freshly cleared minefield just to prove his point.)

Are you from Denmark?