You can see this notable Danish epic production today, set in the 18th century, in which the natural son of a maid must confront the young aristocrat who believes he owns land and people.
Actor with measured gestures and expressive gaze, Mads Mikkelsen stars in “The Bastard” (international bestselling title, “The Promised Land”), good period drama where a retired captain, the natural son of a maid, confronts a young aristocrat who believes he owns land and people in the arid Jutland of the 18th century.
The characters really existed: Ludvig Kahlen, a veteran of the Silesian War, willing to fertilize a wasteland where only heaths grow (today he has a statue in Viborg) and Frederik Schinkel, a landowner with a noble title and member of the Regional Council, which It gave him some authority as a local judge. The captain, of peasant origin, had the authorization of the king, who was the owner of the land. The other, who did not lift a finger to cultivate them, claimed to be the owner and claimed 50% of any possible harvest.
Inspired by them, Ida Jessen, Danish novelist, wrote “Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara”, incorporating the characters of a gypsy girl and a woman who offers herself as a cook and housekeeper “among other things that are not mentioned.” Jessen clarifies in the preface: “There is so little record about them that I had ample opportunity to invent, and I have done so, just as in certain parts I have allowed myself to move a few years.”
Now, inspired by the novel, Nikolaj Arcel filmed “The Bastard”. Between novel and film, they grow alongside the protagonists several characters as fictional as they are credible, and situations as credible as they are terrible: the “taters”, vagabonds without an owner or law to protect them, but capable of working more or less honestly if the opportunity and food are given, the superstitious German laborers, the accommodating bailiff, the Swedish priest who protects a couple of fugitive servants. At that time a master could torture and even kill his servants if they escaped. With these people, the captain will try to turn the wasteland into farmland. He will make mistakes, he will be inflexible, persevering, also dry and prejudiced, until the women humanize him, and the master’s cruelty has his response. It will be Ann Barbara who does justice, and it will be the captain who fights for her. The epilogue, precise, requires only three shots.
This is Nikolaj Arcel’s most personal film, the one he always wanted to make, and, although somewhat slow, it is the best. co-stars, Simon Bennebjerg, Amanda Collin and little Melina Hagberg. Music, Dan Romer. It does not sound epic or optimistic, because the underlying intention is to remind the public precisely how much unpleasantness, risk and sacrifice there is in the conquest of dreams and the construction of a countryany country, and gets it (a small local equivalent is “Salitre”, by Carlos Rinaldi and Hugo Moserwho later dedicated themselves to commercial cinema).
“The Bastard” (Bastarden/ The Promised Land, Denmark, 2023); Dir.: Nikolaj Arcel; Int.: Mads Mikkelsen, Simon Bennebjerg, Amanda Collin, Gustav Lindh.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
