O Bastardo

The Promised Land takes place in 1700's Denmark and tells the story of a retired military officer who wants to settle and farm in an inhospitable area where no one else has been able to survive. He has visions of making a great success, and being greatly rewarded by the King and other noble people. That is just the vaguest outline of the story but the film goes deep into the characters involved and becomes unexpectedly dark, much darker than I had imagined. I will not say more so as not to spoil it, but this is a truly great movie. The main character is played to perfection by Mads Mickelson. The associated actors Amanda Collin, Kristine Thorp, and the young child actor Melina Hagberg are very much up to the task of making their characters come alive. A great film that I could not recommend more.

I watched this movie at the Busan International Film Festival this week. I went into it, without much information and didn't know what to expect. And oh wow, it blew me away. I straight away put it on my "Top 10 Favourite Movies of all Time" list.

First of all Mads Mikkelsen is a phenomenal actor and the perfect choice to play Ludvig Kahlen. He shines especially in the scenes, where he "only" acts out pure emotion with his facial expressions without having to say a word. There is one scene at the very end, where he sits all alone in his farm house, eating at a table and the camera zooms into a close up shot onto his face. It is a captivating scene, were no words are spoken but so much was said. He is a superb actor.

Throughout the movie you feel all kinds of emotions yourself: anger, hatred, sadness, frustration, disgust, joy, relief,.. I felt it all. It is a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

I felt strong hatred for the villain of the story played by Simon Bennebjerg, who was also a perfect cast for this. You really start to hate his character pretty early on, his arrogance, greed and disrespect for all people around him, make him a despicable character.

After watching the movie, my friend and I had a long discussion about human greed and what our motivation in life is. Is it worth to betray, let down and/or loose loved ones over a title, money and/or fame?

10 out of 10, worth every second.

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.

Watched the movie twice. The first one was without subtitles cause I really wanted to feel and see the whole thing without being distracted by subtitles.

Such an incredible movie with exceptional acting of mads mikkelsen.

The little girl's acting was so natural and beautiful. The storyline, cinematography, acting, everything is well done. This movie easily entered my top 10 movies of all time. The last scene where Ludvig is sitting all alone eating, his eyes spoke more than any words could ever do and it made me teared up. Mads' acting ability keeps blowing my mind with each of his "danish" movies.

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.