THE PROMISED LAND (2023) Cert 15. Danish with English subtitles
Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel. (2hrs 2mins)

Mads Mikkelsen leads a superb cast in a thrilling historical drama from Denmark about a dark period in the country's history. In the mid-18th century, the Danish government invited settlers to tame the country's vast, wild and near-barren Jutland Heath, much in the same way as the American West was colonised. Mikkelsen plays a recently demobbed military hero who receives permission from the Danish King to farm one such plot with the bold idea of planting a food crop previously unknown in Denmark: potatoes. However he quickly comes to blows with a corrupt local nobleman, who claims the land as his own and attempts to force Mikkelsen off the heath. A cycle of violence builds as the two men take increasingly dramatic steps to gain the upper hand. The resulting film plays like a Danish Western, presenting Mikkelsen as a force of good against the pure evil of the local landowner.  (Not for nothing was the film released in its home country under the rather more blunt title of Bastarden or "The Bastard"). It's the type of sweeping big-screen epic in which Hollywood once excelled. Stunning photography and rich production design add to the movie's visual spectacle. A modern classic not to be missed.