The Promised Land movie storyline. In 1755, Captain Ludvig Kahlen, an impoverished Danish officer of humble birth, retires after 25 years of service from the German Army with a measly pension to his native Denmark and obtains a permission from the Royal Danish Court to build a property on the barren Jutland moorland for land cultivation.
He hopes to establish a settlement on that property, and in return for that he requests from the Court a privilege of a noble title with an associated manor. Soon after arriving at the site of his prospective homestead, he comes into conflict with Frederik de Schinkel, a local magistrate at the nearby Hald Manor and a merciless landowner who has been trying to monopolize ownership of the moorland.
Schinkel does his utmost to make workforce unavailable to Kahlen and Ludvig is forced to take on Johannes Eriksen, one of de Schinkel’s indentured serf farmers serfs who has broken his contract and fled Frederik’s mistreatment, and his wife Ann Barbara, without paying them the wages. He also hires the “Tatere” Romani Travellers as workers, though that practice is illegal; but the Travellers leave Kahlen’s employment upon de Schinkel’s finding out about that.
Johannes is recaptured by de Schinkel’s men and put to death as an escaped serf by his former master. Despite all the travails and tribulations, Kahlen manages to plant the potatoes brought from Germany and harvest 80 sacks; when the King hears the tidings, he orders the establishment of a settlement on Kahlen’s estate. Kahlen is conferred the title of Royal Surveyor and 50 settlers from Northern Germany are sent to his land.
The Promised Land (Danish: Bastarden) is a 2023 epic historical drama film directed by Nikolaj Arcel from a screenplay by Arcel & Anders Thomas Jensen. Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin and Simon Bennebjerg, and with Kristine Kujath Thorp, Gustav Lindh, Jakob Lohmann, Morten Hee Andersen, Magnus Krepper and Felix Kramer in supporting roles, the film is based on the book The Captain and Ann Barbara by Ida Jessen, and is a joint Danish-German-Swedish co-production.
The Promised Land had its world premiere on 31 August 2023 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival where it competed for the Golden Lion. It was selected as the Danish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, and was one of the 15 finalist films in the December shortlist.
Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel Views: 44
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg, Melina Hagberg, Kristine Kujath Thorp, Gustav Lindh, Morten Hee Andersen, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Magnus Krepper, Søren Malling
Screenplay by: Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen
Production Design by: Jette Lehmann
Cinematography by: Rasmus Videbæk
Film Editing by: Olivier Bugge Coutté
Costume Design by: Kicki Ilander
Art Direction by: Jesper Clausen, Seth Turner, Frantisek Weber
Music by: Dan Romer
MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence, language, some sexuality and brief nudity.
Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures (USA)
Release Date: February 2, 2024
