Quisling: The Final Days Movie Ending Explained & Full Story

Winston Churchill famously used the term “Quisling” to mean traitor, and rightfully so. We’re talking about a man who sold his country during World War 2 and left the people of his country at the mercy of the Nazis. Inspired by Priest Peder Olsen’s diary entries, Erik Poppe’s Quisling: The Final Days is a dark and deliberate slow burn made for people who enjoy the finer things in life. From the moment Vidkun Quisling appears on the screen, Gard B. Eidsvold owns every second of the movie. His portrayal of Quisling is authentic and eerie, and it’ll get you wanting to punch a historical figure pretty badly.

Spoilers Ahead

What happens in the movie?

The Führer has died, and Norway’s Minister-President Vidkun Quisling expresses his grief over the radio. For those who don’t know the context of Norwegian politics during that time, Quisling was the head of a small right-wing party, and he’d staged a coup to help Germany invade Norway. He then served as a puppet ruler of the country over the course of World War II. As soon as the war is over, Quisling plans to negotiate with John Nygaardsvold, who was the prime minister of the government-in-exile of Norway during the time, to plan an interim government. But his influence fades really soon and the Norwegian resistance forces detain him. As the entire nation cries out for his death, the officials are working carefully to ensure he is not rising as a martyr. The church appoints a priest named Peder Olsen to be Quisling’s mourner, and Olsen’s job is to make Quisling confess to his crimes. The movie revolves around Olsen and Quisling’s conversations leading to his court trial and ensuing death penalty. 

Why does Quisling refuse to confess?

Olsen takes the job under secrecy, as he’s not allowed to even tell his wife about it. His wife, Heidi, is a stern hater of Quisling and his former regime, and understandably so. She has seen how the country has suffered for years and wishes to see Quisling pay for his crimes. Olsen, at this point, is still pretty delusional and overly optimistic, and in his heart, he still doesn’t see Quisling as the big bad guy like everybody else. When he first meets Quisling, he just straight up rejects Olsen’s attempt to strike up a conversation and takes a shot at his knowledge of religion. Olsen brings up an example from the story of the Pharisee and the publican, which in the Bible, appears in the Gospel of Luke. Essentially this parable berates pride and embraces humbleness. Olsen indicates the similarities between the Pharisee and Quisling and wants him to let go of his pride and admit to his sins. But Quisling thinks that the Pharisee in the story is a good man because people like him believe in ideals. It’s pretty obvious how a person like this would believe in the greatness of Adolf Hitler. 

Was Quisling truly a patriot?

Throughout the movie, which depicts the last few months of Quisling’s life, we observe that he takes pride in his ideology. He believed that every step he had taken was for the well-being of Norway, and he clearly claimed to be an ardent patriot. Quisling is genuinely a very gifted rhetorician, and the passion behind every word he speaks could almost win you over. In reality, he was an antisemite who sent Jews to Nazi concentration camps. Quisling got so uncomfortable after seeing Russian socialism that he thought he was saving his country from Bolshevism by letting the Nazis take over. Quisling pleads not guilty on all counts at his trial and then goes on and on about how it was his calling from God to save the Nordic countries and make sure Hitler’s ‘peace operation’ goes smoothly. 

Maria’s influence on Vidkun

Quisling’s second wife, Maria, plays a huge role in his actions and their consequences. Maria would call him Kapitan Quisling just to make him feel like he was a charismatic leader people are crazy about. She was a big part of his delusional world, and for good reason. When Quisling met Maria, he was already married to a minor. He sent his first wife away so he could unofficially marry Maria. When Olsen visits Maria, she brags about how Quisling has another side to him; he’s a person who’s saved thousands of people during famine relief in Ukraine and Russia. Now this is one of the weird contradictions in his life, which still doesn’t justify the bloodshed he caused later. In a way, Maria Quisling just put her husband on a pedestal higher than anything else. Her personality is similar to Lady Macbeth, where both women push their husbands to go after power at any cost. 

How does Olsen realize the truth about Quisling?

Maria tells Olsen how Quisling wanted to keep his first wife around as a foster child and then betrayed her when he couldn’t do so. Olsen makes the connection between him abandoning his wife and country in the same way and then calling it a rescue mission. When the lawyers in court accuse Quisling of sending Jews to concentration camps, he defends himself by saying they appeared like labor camps where normal people would work. Talking to Quisling for hours hasn’t done Olsen any good, as he’s only been listening to Quisling’s deluded perspective rather than the truth. While dealing with a national figure, good or bad, it’s understandable that one would put them on a higher pedestal than others. When Heidi finds a pass to the prison in Olsen’s pocket, she makes the connection. They fight, and Olsen defends Quisling using the same argument he does. Olsen is too much of an optimist who likes to see the good in people, but in reality, he’s only running from the cold truth. When a Jewish man testifies in court and describes how other Jews ended up in Auschwitz, Olsen finally breaks free and opens his eyes to the truth. 

Does Quisling admit to his crimes?

Despite everyone wanting him to be regretful, Quisling doesn’t budge from what he thinks is right. Maria also fuels his ego and fires him up before the next day at court. Quisling proudly declares that he prevented a civil war and protected his citizens from the German occupation. He criticizes the perpetrators of the war rather than taking the blame, and obviously, the court has seen and heard him saying these things over and over again. He’s sentenced to death by firing squad. Olsen breaks the news of his appeal to the Supreme Court being rejected, and they have only a few moments before his execution. 

Now Olsen asks Quisling to take part in a Christian communion with him and ask for forgiveness from Jesus. Quisling still feels that he’s innocent, but the truth is simple, and he can’t run from it anymore. Olsen confesses to a sin he committed himself, and he tells Quisling how he didn’t give sanctuary to an elderly Jewish couple who needed help. Olsen behaved like a coward, and he handed them over to the hospital, which resulted in the couple being killed. Quisling reassures his priest that he did the right thing, but Olsen makes sure Quisling realizes that no person should make a decision that could take a life. When Olsen sheds some light on the truth, Quisling begins to question his decisions and wonders if he misunderstood his mission in life. The film leads up to this moment, where these two contrasting characters sit across the prison room with an impending doom closing by. 

Olsen makes sure that Quisling understands his god won’t abandon him if he admits the truth. In the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the tax collector admits to being a sinner rather than clinging to his pride, which makes all the difference. Olsen arranges for a communion, and they share bread and wine, and to make things a bit better, Quisling gets actual coffee to drink thanks to Heidi. The two men from different worlds end up in the same place, agreeing to bow before God and ask for forgiveness. Quisling gets executed by the firing squad at the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. The ending of the film captures the essence of the haunting atmosphere of the event, bringing a perfect end to the narrative of a man who’s remembered in history for all the wrong.