Held for Ransom

Held for Ransom (Ser du månen, Daniel, 2019) is a Danish drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Niels Arden Oplev and drawn from events that unfolded in Syria in 2013. Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye crossed into the war zone to document the conflict and ended up spending 398 days in ISIS captivity alongside a group of other foreign nationals, among them American journalist James Foley.

Esben Smed plays Daniel — a young man who has to learn how to stay sane when every morning might be his last. Toby Kebbell brings Foley to life, and the two men's friendship becomes the film's quiet emotional spine. The story cuts back and forth to Denmark, where Daniel's family and a hostage negotiator named Arthur are trying every available channel to bring him home, with no certainty he is still alive. Oplev previously directed the original Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and he brings the same restrained, pressure-cooker pacing here.

At 138 minutes, the film is less interested in thriller mechanics than in the psychology of endurance. It does not offer clean resolutions. Stream Held for Ransom (2019) online on iFILM.