“Koningsland” tells the story of the reclamation of the Danish Jutland peninsula in impressive images. The leading role is played by Mads Mikkelsen.
Kahlen (Mads Mikkelson) is not bothered by the colonization Photo: Plaio
To conquer the wild heath you will probably need it Determination of a resilient man. A man who, despite all odds, dares to settle the inhospitable land. The way in which “King’s Land” tells the story, based on a historical source, of a farmer who wants to cultivate the land on the Jutland heath in the mid-18th century, certainly has the spicy features of a western.
Your badass hero, Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen), after the end of his military service, lives in a poorhouse for war veterans and decides to take his fate into his own hands: in 1755, a third of Danish land lies fallow, and so far everyone has failed to make it usable . A shame, says Kahlen. He asks the representatives of the Danish king for permission to cultivate his land. With no more resources than his meager captain’s pension.
His request was laughed at, but since Frederick V had long hoped that the heath would be constructed to collect more taxes, it was granted. If he succeeds, Kahlen demands in return that he be granted a noble title, his own property and servants. ‘Bastards’, as the original Danish title of the film says more tellingly, is ultimately about overcoming latent humiliation, the absolute will to stand up for oneself and the struggle for recognition.
Lonely expanse
The reserved camera of Rasmus Videbæk (“The Dark Tower”) illustrates how unimpressed the arid nature of these battles remains eloquently distanced from Kahlen. Before the lonely expanse of the moor you can see him again and again, like a driven man struggling with the unruly earth, his hair tousled by the constant wind, his hands smeared with dirt like his threadbare clothes.
Even more hostile than the land, however, is the man who claims it for himself. Kahlen’s attempted settlement suddenly angers the area’s noble landowner. Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), who illegally declares the heath his property, tries in every possible way to prevent the mission from succeeding.
Director Nikolaj Arcel (“The Queen and the Personal Physician”), who co-wrote the script with Anders Thomas Jensen (“Heroes of Probability”), installs him as pure evil; as an antagonist who tortures and rapes subordinates. Kahlen’s only help, a distressed farming couple who recently fled De Schinkel, again becomes the target of his cruelties.
Impressive game
However, Kahlen continues to resist all attempts at sabotage, even as his efforts claim more and more lives. “King’s Land”, based on the novel “Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara” by Ida Jessen, becomes a developmental story that slowly approaches the realization of how destructive the stubborn pursuit of external affirmation, respect and appreciation really is, when one ends in itself.
Because Kahlen, once a lonely outsider, soon not only finds favor with De Schinkel’s fiancée (Kristine Kujath Thorp), but also experiences a familial community with housekeeper Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin) and a Tatar Roma girl (Melina Hagberg). , remains blind to these happy circumstances for a long time. Yes, she even risks it with her eyesight.
However, Nikolaj Arcel stages the journey of his protagonist from stoic, strong to chastened hero too conventionally, without dramaturgical urgency, so that ‘King’s Land’ leaves a lasting impression. What saves the film from getting lost in the multitude of identical historical dramas is Mikkelsen’s usual impressive acting: he only has to move one corner of his weathered face and you already know what storm is raging in this silent character.