Denmark, Germany, Sweden

ActionDramaHistoryHollywood Movies Hindi DubbedHindi Dubbed MoviesDual AudioHollywood MoviesEnglish Movies

Based on novel or bookMurderPriestColonisationSoldierKing18th centuryFarmingDanishDanish historyEx militaryHistorical dramaShockingAggressiveHopelessLandowner1750sHistoryFuriousViolenceTenseIntenseDepressingAntagonisticPessimistic

Nikolaj Arcel

Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg, Kristine Kujath Thorp, Gustav Lindh, Jacob Ulrik Lohmann

Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen

Zentropa International Berlin, Zentropa International Sweden, Zentropa Entertainments, Film i Väst

NA

Denmark, 1755. Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer a Danish heath reputed to be uncultivable, with an impossible goal: to establish a colony in the name of the king, in exchange for a royal title. A single-minded ambition that the ruthless lord of the region will relentlessly seek to put down. Kahlen's fate hangs in the balance: will his endevours bring him wealth and honour, or cost him his life...?

Reviews:

Author: Geronimo1967
Mads Mikkelsen is in his element here as the determined pioneer Ludvig Kahlen. He has been a soldier in the Danish army and has now set his heart on cultivating some salty heathland on a barren Jutland. Fortunately for him, King Frederik V is keen to see this land settled and become more productive, so he is encouraged to go and farm there. His arrival ruffles the feathers of local grandee Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) who considers the land to be his, and who makes it clear that he will make life awkward for his new neighbour. Relations are not helped when he takes in a pair of runaway servants - "Ann Barbara" (Amanda Collin) and husband "Johannes" (Morten Hee Andersen) and then falls for the man's aristocratic cousin Edel Helene (Kristine Kujath Thorp) to whom De Schinkel wishes to be married - cementing his place amongst a somewhat sceptical nobility. With the pot simmering along nicely now, things start to go missing. There's a pilferer about. Kahlen quickly discovers that it's a young girl who lives with the local Romany population and pretty quickly "Anmai Mus" (Melina Hagberg) is an extra mouth for them to feed. De Schinkel isn't averse to some underhand methods to thwart the would-be farmer and so resorts to increasingly violent, cruel, even murderous tactics that make the tasks of staying within the law and of growing potatoes almost impossible - but he doesn't quite appreciate the guile and ingenuity of Kahlen. This is a story of perseverance and determination, it's also a story of love and of acceptance. Indeed, for just about everyone here the goal is to find some roots, a place to call home, a family, maybe even an identity. There evolves a good chemistry between Mikkelsen, Collin and the convincing young Hagberg and Bennebjerg - well he gives the distinct impression that he doesn't come from the deepest of gene pools really quite effectively. It is prone to the odd meander at times, especially as it gets up an head of steam, but once in full flow this is quite a gripping adventure that marries the bleak and the optimistic whilst allowing Mikkelsen to do what he does best. Well worth watch.