“The Promised Land” (2023) was Denmark’s submission to the 2024 Oscars’ “Best International Feature Film” category. It is an adaptation of Ida Jessen’s novel “The Captain and Ann Barbara,” which is loosely based on the life of Ludvig von Kahlen, a Danish captain who became one of the first cultivators of Jutland, and a fictional woman who worked for him. The original Danish title translates into Bastard, which is a less sarcastic and misleading title than the English one. Set in the eighteenth century, Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen), whose mother was an estate servant with no legal father, is a proud, but poor man and more than a little naïve as he approaches the King’s court expecting to see the King. Kahlen offers to cultivate the Jutland in exchange for a noble title, estate, manor and servants. While he does not meet the King, he receives permission to try. It is rough, grueling work, but Kahlen is determined and focused. His efforts anger his noble neighbor and magistrate, De Schinkel (Simon Bebbebjerg), who covets that land, and captivates De Schinkel’s fiancé and cousin, Edel Helene Leising (Kristine Kujath Thorp), who sees Kahlen as a feasible, financial alternative if he is successful (hell, even if he is not…have you seen him). De Schinkel does everything in his power to thwart Kahlen, including prevent people from working for him so Kahlen hires escaped indentured servants (slaves) and Romani, which is illegal; thus, setting Kahlen and De Schinkel on a collision course. If Mads Mikkelsen is in a movie, watch it.
Danish period films are an interesting mix of period pieces, critiques on power and government, romantic dramas and Westerns set in Europe, which makes them more elevated than the average American film, but far more exciting than the average intellectual artsy fartsy film. Focusing on a character with war experience is like Chekhov’s gun. “The Promised Land” becomes a countdown to find out what he can do, and it only takes eight minutes to find out. It also seems obvious that Kahlen is going to succeed so the narrative tension may overtly lie in the conflict with De Schinkel and who will win Kahlen’s heart. Director and cowriter Nikolaj Arcel and Mikkelsen previously collaborated in “A Royal Affair” (2012). The story charts Kahlen’s journey of transformation, which may seem unnecessary since he starts as an admirable albeit rigid man. He even has the frequent company of Anton Eklund (Gustav Lindh), the local priest, to prove it, but he is far from a perfect person. His focus makes it harder for him to act empathetically even when he knows what the right thing would look like and refrains from acting accordingly. Kahlen’s experiences alter his fantasy image of success at unexpected times.
De Schinkel is easy to hate. If Joffrey from “Game of Thrones” had lived, he would be this guy. He loves torturing, raping and killing, but is not good at doing it without help. Besides being an antagonist, he is an interesting foil because if Kahlen succeeds, Kahlen could be getting a preview of his future descendents. If the British ever decided to remake this movie, then Matt Smith could play De Schinkel. Kahlen aspires to be like De Schinkel’s father whose ambition and work generated wealth, which spoils De Schinkel’s character. De Schinkel also simultaneously acts like a father figure to Kahlen because it is heavily implied that Kahlen’s father was Count Raben, who like De Schinkel, rapes his maids. De Schinkel also serves as a fraternal figure by invoking his father’s habit of enlisting his half-brothers to serve the kingdom. The game was rigged before Kahlen was born. De Schinkel is a villain on three levels: by opposing the protagonist, his treatment of people, especially compared to Kahlen, and his rebellion against the King by claiming that only he, not the King, has control of the land. De Schinkel is the law, but Kahlen is trained only to bow to the King and rules of the state. At his heart, Kahlen is a rule follower. Is power embodied in local figures versus centralized, state power or is it a spectrum?
“The Promised Land” becomes a battle of merit, Kahlen, versus power structures. De Schinkel is toothless in a room filled with men who have held power for more than a couple of generations. The danger of law personified in a person/people instead of a principle is the fickleness of that law. My favorite moments are when the powerful men make fun of Kahlen’s heritage, his clothes, his lack of a wig because, and I cannot stress this enough, they never make fun of his actual physical appearance because he is hot, comparatively ethical, and industrious. In a fair fight, Kahlen would win.
As Kahlen wakes up to the disparity, Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin), Kahlen’s housekeeper, moves from the margins and becomes a centralized character. Ann Barbara verbalizes Kahlen’s practical side. Her storyline could have easily made her the most interesting character if Mikkelsen was not such a deft actor at keeping attention even when barely speaking and emoting. She makes bolder moves than Kahlen and, on many levels, is the real hero of the movie. Ann Barbara does not escape the Freudian treatment. She initially plays a mother figure to Kahlen, chiding him for wanting to hobnob with the cool kids, making sure that he looks respectable and telling him how to be safe. As De Schinkel’s runaway serf, she also shares a similar traumatic history with Kahlen’s mother.
“The Promised Land” is at its best when it focuses on quiet, quotidian life cultivating the land. Here is where Arcel’s eye excels. He can toggle between capturing intimate interior moments then vast landscapes which make man seem miniscule in comparison. There are also iconic moments of man taming the land as Kahlen stands in darks, arms akimbo, with a sea of men tending the land with fire. There are also the obligatory sumptuous shots of the already cultivated land with De Schinkel eating and entertaining outdoors on the tamed land. Paired with the acting, the film transports the viewer into feeling what it was like to live amidst the wilderness’ harsh majesty.
Imagine a Western where the gunslinger suddenly has made a makeshift home instead of enjoying the hospitality of a family whom he protects then leaves. In “The Promised Land,” the countercultural twist is that when the gunslinger protects others’ family, he betrays and endangers himself.
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Ann Barbara initiates a relationship with Kahlen, and Anmai Mus (Laura Bilgrau Eskid-Jensen) pesters Kahlen to adopt her, which he does. Kahlen assents to sending Anmai Mus away as a concession to racist German settlers, his only legal source of labor, in exchange for them staying and working the land. Ann Barbara leaves Kahlen (oooh the principles), but De Schinkel hires highwaymen to kill the settlers and their animals. Kahlen goes into full vengeance mode and lands in De Schinkel’s personal dungeon, but in the most realistic moment in the film, all the single ladies band together to save that fine man. Edel lures De Schinkel into her room to drug him, and Ann Barbara either mutilates or kills him (good for her), but unfortunately the vengeful act lands her in prison, and Kahlen is all alone. Edel goes back home to Norway because there is zero reason to stick around. Shout out to the County Marshall Trappaud (Jacob Lohmann), who is the Amazon of his time and gets the story straight so Kahlen can leave prison. Someone create time travel to a fictional world and get that man some Preparation H. The German settlers are like, “Fuck this shit I’m out. I’m not about this life.” He reunites with Anmai Mus, which is maybe not the best moral stand considering he is now alone, but still better than some biological fathers do so he ranks on the list of best cinematic dads for acknowledging when he is wrong and doing better. He raises her until she finds love with her people. Kahlen has his title, his land and the king’s promise of support, which real talk, seemed pretty shabby, but he is all alone so in the least realistic part of “The Promised Land,” he retrieves Ann Barbara before she gets transported to a site with harsher penalties and is further away. Yeah! He has his priorities straight.