We Shall Overcome (film)

Drømmen (Danish "The Dream", English: We Shall Overcome) is a 2006 Danish film based on a true story about a young boy's crusade against a dictatorial headmaster of the "old school", in 1969 Denmark.

The film is directed by Danish screenwriter and film director Niels Arden Oplev and stars Bent Mejding and Anders W. Berthelsen. It won sixteen awards in 2006 and 2007.

Synopsis
The story opens in the Danish countryside of 1969. Denmark and the rest of the world are changing rapidly but Lindum-Svendsen, the headmaster of the rural school, hasn't noticed.

Frits is a young boy who spends his summer holidays watching the family's first television, and is influenced by the American civil rights movement. The sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968, coupled with his own dreams of a better life, have given Frits courage and a desire for rebellion. The dictatorial Lindum-Svendsen steps over the line while punishing Frits, drawing the ire of youthful new teacher Freddie Svale, which encourages Frits to take up battle against the headmaster.

Cast

 * Bent Mejding as headmaster Lindum-Svendsen
 * Janus Dissing Rathke as Frits Johansen
 * Anders W. Berthelsen as Freddie Svale
 * Jens Jørn Spottag as Peder, Frits' father
 * Peter Hesse Overgaard as Erling
 * Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis as Stine, Frits' mother
 * Gyrd Løfqvist as Frits' grandfather
 * Elin Reimer as Frits' grandmother
 * Steen Stig Lommer as teacher Olsen
 * Kurt Ravn as school doctor
 * Peter Schrøder as sexton
 * Sarah Juel Werner as Iben
 * Daniel Ørum as Troels
 * Lasse Borg as Søren
 * Joy-Maria Frederiksen as Iben's mother

Accolades
The film has won sixteen awards in 2006 and 2007.