After fighting the Soviets as a volunteer during the Winter War in Finland, Max Manus, haunted by his experiences, returns to Norway, finding it occupied by the Nazis.

He joins with the Norwegian resistance movement in their fight against the Germans, producing illegal propaganda, but his cell is soon detected and he is arrested after jumping out a window.

Manus, however, avoids capture, and with Gram and Gunnar Sønsteby forms the so-called "Oslo Gang" and along with others, receives a medal from the Norwegian king.

Here Gram introduces Manus to "Tikken", a married woman who works as a Norwegian contact for the British consulate, and the two develop a relationship.

On 16 January 1945 he and Roy Nielsen succeed in planting limpet mines, which sank the cargo ship Donau the next day.

[3] To produce a realistic effect, parts of Oslo were transformed into an early–1940s look, a process that included flying the flag of Nazi Germany from the roof of the parliament building, for the first time in over 60 years.

[4] The general response from academic historians was that, even though a critical debate about the role of the resistance movement was necessary, Fossen's arguments were overstated and largely based on ignorance.

Borgersrud accused Norway's Resistance Museum, which was assisting the film makers in a consultancy capacity, of distorting history.

Historian and director at Norway's Resistance Museum, Arnfinn Moland rejected Borgersrud's accusations, stating that there is ample evidence that Manus endured heavy artillery bombardment and machine gun fire in Finland and that this affected him for the rest of his life, including dead and wounded in their unit.

[6][7] The premiere of Max Manus was an elaborate event, attended by King Harald V as well as 90-year-old Gunnar Sønsteby, one of the resistance fighters portrayed in the film.

[15] Mode Steinkjer, in the paper Dagsavisen, gave praise to Aksel Hennie for his portraiture of the "adventurer" Max Manus.

He especially praised the film for its credible and warm portrayal of the relationship between Manus and his fellow saboteurs, as well as his romance with future wife Tikken.

In Bergens Tidende, critic Astrid Kolbjørnsen gives praise to the film's ending and overall good intentions, but found the acting uneven and the dialogue artificial.