Polar (2019)

Directed by Jonas Akerlund and written by Jayson Rothwell Polar (2019) is a neo-noir movie based on a comic series of the same name.

Exceptional bloodthirsty and violent with more claret than a French vineyard! It has a great wee twist towards its conclusion that probable a sequel is to follow. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is absolutely brilliant as the man looking forward to collecting his pension, and not  from the Department of Work and Pensions! 

Hated by the critics but loved by home viewers. Catch this outrageous movie on Netflix. 

The Salvation.

Now here’s a mouth-watering proposition: a Danish western directed and co-written by Kristian Levring, who was the fourth signatory of the Dogma95 movement, made by the Danish film company Zentropa Entertainments which was started by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen and which was responsible for over 70 feature films including The Hunt (2013) A Royal Affair (2013) In A Better Word (2010) Donkeys (2010) and most of Lars von Triers output. It gets even more lip smacking when you read the cast list.

 

The Husband Jon (Mads Mikkelson)

Out of the wreckage of the Danish defeat in the war of 1864 Jon (Mads Mikkelson) and his brother Peter (Mikael Persbrandt) crossed the Atlantic to forge a new future for themselves. For seven years they struggled to get a foothold in an unfamiliar land, seven years in which Jon longed for his wife Marie and their son. Seven years is a long time for any family to be apart. The year is 1871 and the country is America. 

Brother Peter (Mikael Persbrant)

The movie starts with Jon and Peter meeting the train carrying Marie and his ten-year-old son.  Peter stays in town while Jon and his family board a stagecoach that will take them to their new home on the outskirts of Black Creek. It’s when two recently released criminals board the coach that a nightmare begins that can only end in violence and death.   

Notorious Gang Leader Henry De La Rue (Jeffery Dean Morgan) 

Black Creek is run by Mayor Keane (Jonathan Pryce) who is in cahoots with an ex Injun fighter and notorious gang leader Henry De La Rue (a menacing Jeffery Dean Morgan) to buy up all the land surrounding the town. Also involved in these underhand goings on are the ineffective town Sheriff (played by Scottish actor Douglas Henshall recently seen in series one of Outlander) and De La Rue’s sister in law Madeline who was rescued from the Injuns minus her tongue (a totally delicious and smouldering Eva Green who is absolutely brilliant despite not having a line of dialogue to say)

 

Sister in Law Madeline (Eva Green)

Beautifully shot in South Africa by Jens Schlosser, this is homage to the classic western style made famous by Sergio Leone cross-fertilised with Fred Zinnermann’s High Noon (1952). A feature film so obviously made and acted with such great enthusiasm that’s its familiar format can be forgiven. Its traditionally authentic feel will keep you gripped, a Scandinavian movie experience not to be missed.

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas.

Inspired by Heinrich von Kleist German novella Michael Kohlhaas, which in it self is based on the true story of Hans Kohlhase a 16^th century merchant who lived in Colln which today is called Berlin, French born director and writer Arnaud des Pallieres has adapted the story to concern an ordinary family man who earns a living trading in horses and only turns to violence when all other options have eluded him. 

 

Kohlhaas and his wife Judith.

Whilst taking horses to market Michael Kohlhaas (Danish actor Mads Mikkelson in his brooding warrior mode) has to pass through the local barons lands who seizes two of his best black horses as collateral for his lack of a transit permit even though as he discovers he does not need one. Returning to collect his horses and his servant Cesar (David Bennent), who has stayed to look after the valuable beasts, he finds that the horses have been viciously worked in the barons fields and are damaged goods also Cesar has been savaged by the barons dogs. Our horse trader then attempts to sue for reparations for both his damaged horses and his badly injured servant but the case is unfairly dismissed because the baron has a relative at court. It is decided that Kohlhaas’s wife Judith (Delphine Chuillot) should partition the ruling princess directly, but she is badly beaten and dies on her return to her husband and teenage daughter Lisbeth. In Kohlhaas’s mind his has only one course of action left to him – that is to extract revenge and search for retribution for the wrongs done to him and his family. 

 

Lisbeth must be protected at all costs.

Maybe a little slow and deliberate for some but in my opinion an admirable example of austere period drama, admittedly sombre and bleak but totally gripping all brilliantly acted out by Mikkelson and his supporting cast, which includes, as well as these already mentioned, Bruno Ganz as the main protector of the authoritarians and the excellent Denis Lavant as a Protestant theologian who is in a great scene where he lectures Michael Kohlhaas about the moral dimension of the action he has taken. When you have the privilege to witness such inventive filmmaking you realise that the demise of the movie is greatly exaggerated.

Will Kohlhaas extract his revenge?

After The Wedding.

Having already enjoyed two films directed by Danish born film director Susanne Bier, the first was Brothers (2004) and the second was the Academy Award winning In a Better World (2010) which starred the Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt who can presently be seen in the BBC4 series Beck, I was looking forward to seeing her 2006 movie After the Wedding and was not to be disappointed as the director had certainly maintained her normal extraordinary high standard.

 

A man with a past .

A man with a hidden agenda .

Jacob Petersen heads an Indian based orphanage and his work helps to save many vulnerable young street children. An honourable man but a loner who because of his chosen career is compelled to forgo mature relationships, but a man with a past but one that would appear to be happy with his situation. When the orphanage is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer. A Danish businessman, Jørgen Lennart Hansson, offers him a donation of $4 million dollars. There are, however, certain conditions and Jørgen’s motives are not what they seem. Not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also attend the wedding of Jørgen's daughter. The wedding proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life. Family secrets will be revealed along with Jørgen’s well intentioned hidden agenda, but does it give Jørgen Hansson the right to control other people's lives even those close to him and will it be morally justifiable and does the end result justify the means?

 

A beautiful woman caught in a triangle of passion.

The sensitive daughter.

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, only loosing out to the German movie The Lives of Others (2006), After The Wedding is chock fall of believable characters that are beautifully portrayed by all four lead actors.  For example a sensitive portrayal of the daughter by Stine Fischer Christensen, Mads Mikkelson’s melancholy depiction of the troubled and intense Jacob, Rolf Lassgard powerful interpretation of the rich businessman and Sidse Babett Knudson as Helene Hansson torn between Jørgen her husband and a previous relationship. All four, as well as the supporting actors, display the essence of natural acting, proving that it is the key to the great performances in this film and also proves how important casting was for the portrayal of Anders Thomas Jensen’s screenplay. Screen International described it as not only a powerful compelling drama but complex and gripping. Emotional, but never melodramatic it underlines the difference between the poverty of India and privilege of Jørgen and his family. I would sincerely recommend that lovers of a well told, brilliantly acted, superbly directed drama should not miss a chance to see this movie. 

The Hunt.

We’ve had some really thought provoking films as part of Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club over the years but none more so than the Danish drama The Hunt (2012). A film whose subject matter is never far from the headlines: the accusations arising from the sexual abuse of young children. Hosted by Julie McMorran who began the evening by giving us some background to both the director and the main lead actor.

Thomas Vinterberg, whose looks defy his age, is a Danish film director born in 1969, who in 1995 along with his fellow countrymen, the enfant terrible Lars von Trier, Kristian Levring and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking which laid down specific rules to simplify movie making including creating films without artificial technology or techniques. Vinterberg made the first film created under this movement. The award winning Festen (1998) is about a family gathering to celebrate the 60^th birthday of their father. At the dinner the eldest son publicly accuses his father of sexually abusing both him and his now dead sister. Further success was not forthcoming until 2010’s Submarino restoring his reputation in his native country.

Mads Mikkelsen has been making feature films since his debut in Pusher in 1996 is probable best known in the UK for playing Le Chiffre, the villain who cries blood, in Casino Royale (2006), Rochefont in The Three Musketeers (2011) and Johan Struensee in The Royal Affair (2011) which received a nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2013’s Golden Globe Awards.

The 6 year-old Klara is interviewed by her Head teacher.

Peter Bradshaw described The Hunt as a portrait of pure evil, and he was not referring to any of the individuals in the film but to the subject matter, where everyone is to blame and yet no one is to blame for the emotional backlash generated against an innocent man.  The story takes place in a small close-knit Danish community. Lucas (Mikkelsen) is an over qualified nursery teacher, recently divorced and estranged from his son who he obviously loves deeply. 6-year-old Klara is the daughter of Lucas’s best friend but would appear to lack affection from her parents and turns to Lucas for the warmth and the love she craves, but he rejects her innocent advances. Following a crude incident involving internet pornography she cruelly tells the kindergarten’s headmistress a pack of lies that will have a life changing effect on the stunned Lucas.

All hell breaks loose at the Christmas Eve service.

A reveling study of modern day human emotion, without sermonising, dark and upsetting but not without a certain humour. Beautifully filmed with autumnal scenes and colours that at times offset the bleakness of this extremely tough watch. Mikkelsen certainly deserved the Best Actor Award at 2012 Cannes Film Festival because while you were intently watching Mikkelsen you never once saw the actor, only the character. Thanks must go to Julie who skillfully introduced a movie with a problematic subject matter but one that certainly resonates through Britain today with the repercussions from the Jimmy Savile affair.