Mads Mikkelsen shines in gripping historical drama The Promised Land

Nightmare in the fields: Mads Mikkelsen astounds as Ludvig von Kahlen. Photo / Henrik Ohsten Zentropa

A critic wouldn’t normally quote another’s review, but TimeOut magazine hilariously described this Danish historical drama as “the most gripping film about potato farming since The Martian”.

This based-on-history tale of an ex-soldier labouring on barren land in the mid-18th century while fighting a dastardly aristocrat and the vagaries of Mother Nature is absolutely captivating and makes for a stunning cinematic epic.

Danish star Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt, Another Round) astounds yet again as Ludvig von Kahlen, who returns to his homeland after 25 years in the German Holstein army. Despite his low social status (the film’s Danish title is Bastarden, referring to Kahlen’s parentage of nobleman and servant), he gets permission from the Royal Danish Court to plough an inhospitable section of heath on the promise that he will make it arable. The gruffly unemotional Kahlen employs a couple of serfs who have escaped the abusive clutches of local landowner Frederic De Schinkel (a blood-boiling performance by Simon Bennebjerg), but Kahlen’s exhaustive efforts to prepare the land for settlement soon turn into a Sisyphean nightmare.

Director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel previously worked with Mikkelsen on the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair. Here, he adapts Ida Jessen’s historical novel The Captain and Ann Barbara to deliver an affecting romantic drama and political thriller with shocking moments of pure malevolence, causing this reviewer to long for a level of retribution normally reserved for Tarantino movies.

Mikkelsen is wonderful, eschewing the Bond baddie charisma of Casino Royale for the taciturn emotional constipation of his roles in After the Wedding and Brothers. He is matched by excellent support in Amanda Collin’s steely Ann Barbara as the servant he employs to keep house. Every other player, from the dark-eyed child Anmai Mus (Melina Hagberg) to the local priest (Gustav Lindh) feels like someone from another era.

Among the abuse and exploitation suffered by the lower classes is the depiction of age-old prejudices, superstition and ignorance: when a new community of settlers arrives, they insist the tiny “devil” child is expelled and the captain is visibly torn between his life’s sole goal and his soul. Add to these scenes of barbarism that are all the more galling for the witnesses’ impotence, and The Promised Land amounts to a gut-wrenching and affecting piece of cinema.

Rating out of 5: ★★★★½

The Promised Land, directed by Nikolaj Arcel, is in cinemas now.