The Promised Land

Anchored by an emotionally arresting performance from the ever-reliable Mads Mikkelsen, The Promised Land (Bastarden) employs the expansive canvas of an epic to narrate its small-scale, intimate human drama and expertly balances the heartwarming with the harrowing to deliver a consistently engaging Jutland western. The story at its core is about family & togetherness yet brewing beneath the surface is an escalating tension that often unleashes scattered scenes of violence when the ambition of a nobody collides with the greed of a madman, thus making this steadily paced & brilliantly crafted Danish historical drama one of the better surprises of 2023.

Possibly one of the most engaging and powerful European movies of the year. Great storytelling, acting, directing, cinematography, art direction, costumes, make up.

This film uses all the tools of the western genre. Wide landscapes, settlers developing harsh lands, the fight against greed, injustice, cruelty and impunity of the ruling class, a stubborn loner who learns to follow his heart and old vs. New technologies, in this case agricultural, settlers fighting rich landowners, racial prejudices and of course a showdown with a powerful obligatory scene.

For the longest time I have been waiting for a period piece set in Europe with the look and feel of epic westerns. There have been a few efforts so far and they all failed on me in one part or another. This one could be leading the pack. Do yourself a favor and go see it on a very, very big screen.

In 1755, retired soldier Ludwig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) decides to attempt the impossible - to cultivate the Danish Heath. This is a bleak and infertile wilderness which produces nothing but gorse and heather (though there are forests nearby, for some reason). He hopes to win honour and renown thereby.

Kahlen builds his house, and collects a motley crew of workers, including a priest, a pair of runaway serfs, and some lawless folk akin to gypsies. He sort-of adopts a gypsy girl. With much labour, he clears some land, then unveils his secret weapon - the potato.

Unfortunately, he runs foul of a sadistic local landowner (a wonderfully sinister performance by Simon Bennebjerg), who considers himself above the law and has no problem with violence.

The film follows Kahlen through one growing season, at the end of which his feud with the landowner reaches a bloody climax.

The epitaph on screen seems to suggest that this is based on a true story, but I don't know if that's the case.

The performances are excellent throughout; the landscape is compelling, and the cinematography superb.

The Promised Land (2023)

Mads Mikkelsen is an actor who needs no praise and yet every time I see him in a film, my level of admiration grows even more. The sense of honor and dignity are so profound in this man as he commands a powerful on-screen presence in every scene. Asides from knowing that this was a historical drama, I didn't even bother to read the synopsis as I had faith in the lead actor. Oh and if you love potatoes, you are going to enjoy this even more.

The Promised Land is a true story of Ludvig Kahlen, a man determined on building a settlement in the Danish wilderness in order to attain wealth and honor. Being an ex-soldier he will use his meager savings in an attempt to make this dream a reality but before long, he will encounter more than a handful of obstacles imposed by a wealthy landowner who is determined to prevent Ludvig from achieving his goal. Despite taking place in Denmark, this film can somewhat be classified as a Historical-Western due to it's use of wide shots, beautiful nature, a respectable stoic protagonist and a sense of perpetual struggle against oppressors.

When you think about it, the historical event in question is quite insignificant on a large scale and if not for Mads Mikkelsen, this film wouldn't have existed. Thankfully it was made and asides from Mads' captivating performance, the rest of the cast came to put in a collective effort that made me genuinely care about the struggle. The cinematography is simple yet beautiful and the well used score manages to both accentuate a rural setting and pull on the emotional strings. Overall, a well made film that leaves a pleasant aftertaste and if you are a fellow fan of Mads, you won't be disappointed.

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Rating: 8.7 Overall, a very polished period drama that is executed well on many fronts as the direction, cinematography, and performances from Mads Mikkelsen and Amanda Collin help create a very captivating movie, but the writing and story construction hold it back from being something great.

Very Good Direction (Does a great job on a macro-scale as some of the scenes look stunning as he effectively uses cinematography and editing to capture their grand nature (like in the palaces and especially in the farming scenes; does a very good job on a micro-scale as he develops sequences very well; gets a lot out of his actors as they all work well with Mikkelson to drive the story forward; the biggest drawback is the storytelling as it is kinda predictable with what is going to happy next (especially with the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist as its pretty generic and cliche with how its told), Good to Very Good Acting (Very Good to Great from Mads Mikkelsen (Has somewhat of a grit to this performance that helps show who his character is; he controls every scene he is in and really lifts the performances around him as he acts as someone to work off of; shows his experience and why he is one of the most renowned Danish actors in cinema history), Very Good from Amanda Collin (Very Good female lead to Mikkelsen as the two have great chemistry, but she also has moments where she shines on her own (especially in the climax); really embodies someone who is of the working class and looking for revenge), Good from Simon Bennebjerg (Plays the pompous prick role well as he does his best effort to make sure everyone hates him (though this makes his performance a bit one-sided as he is written pretty shallowly), Good from the rest of the cast (does their job helping move the story forward and working with Mikkelsen to make the scenes more interesting)), Pretty Good to Good Story (The concept uses a baseline source material that is very interesting and draws your attention because its based on a true story; The story construction is kinda an issue because the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist is pretty shallow since it just follows many cliches about the power trip of royalty, and this affects the plot as it has to construct itself around this major conflict (although the overarching storyline between the protagonist and the king and the protagonist developing relationships with the female lead and child are written well); the flow of sequences is fine and does a good job in making the story interesting; the character writing for the protagonist, the female lead, and child are good as their grit present them as more well-rounded characters trying to achieve something, but the writing for the other characters (especially the antagonist) is very shallow that you do not really care for them towards the end of the movie), Good Screenplay (The dialogue is well written and comes off very polished (staying true to 1700s vernacular); the humor is used decently well to lift the tension in some of the traumatic scenes (especially with the antagonist to show how twisted he is); the use of symbolism is decently present, but the message just feels like it isn't clearly conveyed with the direction they chose in the end; the foreshadowing is pretty good)), Very Good Score (Felt really similar to Joker and used well to set the tone), Great Cinematography (Really polished and helps show the vastness of the world and the emotions of the characters), Very Good Sound (Felt very crisp and helped with building tension), Very Good Editing (Used well in conjunction with the Cinematography to deliver a polished product), Very Good Visual Effects (The use of practical effects makes the move stunning (especially the use of fire and blood)), Great Production Design (Helps with setting the time period as they build these grand palace sets as a dichotomy to the rural landscapes to show the separation of the classes), Very Good Costumes (Helps with setting the time period and showing the juxtaposition between the upper and lower classes), Plot Structure was fine for the most part as all the overarching plot elements were there and built on each other in a standard fashion; the main issue is the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is just a bit too cliche and forced that it has a major impact on how the rising action develops (but it does help with the climax though); the exposition just drags a lot and is very unnecessary/forced (could have been removed and the movie would have been the same), Pacing was a bit on the slower side as it followed the pace of other period dramas (but it does move faster than most movies in its genre), Climax was very good itself and executed well (especially with Collin's performance); the exposition just really dampers this climax as it ruins the momentum built up by a well-executed sequence, Tone was very similar to other period dramas (does not provide anything new on this front), Saw a premiere at Austin Film Fest.