Land of Mine

Land of Mine (Danish: Under sandet, lit. 'Under the Sand') is a 2015 Danish-German historical drama war film directed by Martin Zandvliet. It was shown in the Platform section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[3] It was selected and nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards.[4][5][6]

Land of Mine
Theatrical release poster
Under sandet
Directed byMartin Zandvliet
Produced byMalte Grunert
Mikael Chr. Rieks
Screenplay byMartin Zandvliet
StarringRoland Møller
Mikkel Følsgaard
Music bySune Martin
CinematographyCamilla Hjelm Knudsen
Edited byPer Sandholt
Molly Malene Stensgaard
Distributed byNordisk Film
Release date
  • 10 September 2015 (2015-09-10) (TIFF)
  • 3 December 2015 (2015-12-03) (Denmark)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryDenmark
Germany
LanguageGerman
Danish
Budget35.5 million DKK[1]
Box office$3.1 million[2]

The film is inspired by real events and tells the story of German prisoners of war sent to clear land mines in Denmark after World War II. It is estimated that over two thousand German soldiers, including numerous teenagers, under the command of German officers but against the Geneva Conventions, removed mines, nearly half of them being either killed or wounded. The removal was part of a controversial agreement between the German Commander General Georg Lindemann, the Danish Government and the British Armed Forces, under which German soldiers with experience in defusing mines would be in charge of clearing the mine fields. Historians have criticised the film for showing German soldiers clearing mines under the command of Danish officers, which never happened.[7][8]

Plot

Following the end of World War II in Europe and the liberation of Denmark from German occupation in May 1945, the defeated Wehrmacht evacuates the country. A Danish sergeant, Carl Leopold Rasmussen, furiously beats up a German prisoner of war for carrying a Danish flag.[9] A group of young German prisoners are handed over to the Danish Army and sent to the west coast, where they are trained to remove the mines that the Germans had buried in the sand. Rasmussen forces the boys to perform the dangerous work with their bare hands. They are warned not to expect any sympathy from the Danes, who resent their former occupiers. Rasmussen shares this contempt and he is determined to treat the young prisoners without sympathy.

Rasmussen is rude to and contemptuous of them and the neighbouring household treats them with hostility. After marching his squad onto the dunes, he promises that they will return home in three months, if they can each defuse six mines per hour for a total of 45,000 mines. Rasmussen begins to grow conflicted in his feelings and Sebastian Schumann, leader of the boys, attempts to remain optimistic; the boys discuss their plans for when they return home.

The POWs are not given food due to postwar shortages and some begin to suffer from malnourishment. The optimistic Wilhelm's arms are blown off and he dies in a field hospital. After stealing animal fodder from the nearby farm, the boys are poisoned by rat droppings and Rasmussen forces them to purge themselves with seawater. Afterwards, he begins to treat them more kindly, stealing food from the base for them and reporting that Wilhelm has survived, to maintain morale. He also allows the boys to use a device invented by Sebastian to improve productivity. While clearing the beach, one of the boys forgets to separate a mine's plunger from the detonator. After Rasmussen stops a group of Allied soldiers from urinating on one of the boys, Ebbe accuses him of being sympathetic towards the Germans. Werner is blown to bits after encountering landmines buried one above another and his twin brother, Ernst, who is in denial, is comforted by Rasmussen.

After a casual game of football, Rasmussen's dog is blown up in a supposedly safe zone of the beach. This causes Rasmussen to snap and begin abusing the boys again. He forces them to march close together across the cleared zones of the beach to confirm that they are safe. He relents after seeing Ernst save a little girl from the minefield and then commit suicide by walking onto uncleared sand. He reassures a grieving Sebastian that they will soon be able to return. While four of the boys continue to clear the beach of mines, a live mine is accidentally tossed onto a truckload of deactivated mines, setting off a massive chain reaction and killing the other seven. Only Sebastian, Ludwig, Helmut and Rodolf remain.

Although the boys had been promised that they would be sent home after defusing all of the mines, Ebbe informs Rasmussen that he has ordered the surviving four to be sent to another area, to join a team defusing landmines without the aid of a map. Rasmussen argues with Ebbe but he refuses to rescind the order. Rasmussen rescues them, drives them within 500 meters of the German border and orders them to run to their freedom.

Cast
  • Roland Møller as Sgt. Carl Leopold Rasmussen
  • Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Captain Ebbe Jensen
  • Laura Bro as Karin
  • Louis Hofmann as Sebastian Schumann
  • Joel Basman as Helmut Morbach
  • Oskar Bökelmann as Ludwig Haffke
  • Emil Belton as Ernst Lessner
  • Oskar Belton as Werner Lessner
  • Leon Seidel as Wilhelm LeBern
  • Karl Alexander Seider as Manfred
  • Maximilian Beck as August Kluger
  • August Carter as Rodolf Selke
  • Tim Bülow as Hermann Marklein
  • Alexander Rasch as Friedrich Schnurr
  • Julius Kochinke as Johann Wolff
  • Zoe Zandvliet as Elizabeth

Production

Filming began in July 2014 and ended in August 2014. The film was shot at historically authentic locations, including in Oksbøllejren and areas in Varde. The use of the historical beaches led to the discovery of a real live mine during the production.[10]

Reception

Critical response

Land of Mine received critical acclaim. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 91% "Certified Fresh" rating, with an average score of 7.4/10, based on reviews from 99 critics. The website's critical consensus states: "Land of Mine uses an oft-forgotten chapter from the aftermath of World War II to tell a hard-hitting story whose period setting belies its timeless observations about bloodshed and forgiveness."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12]

The film gained a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival,[13] with Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter stating "Director Martin Zandvliet has come up with a fresh and compelling approach to this well-traveled territory"[14] and David D'Arcy of the Screendaily stating "Land of Mine achieves moments of chilling suspense in scenes of untrained soldiers defusing mines by hand and in the bloody bodies that leap into the air when the boys fail".[15] Domestically it received 5 out of 6 stars from a number of critics, who all stated it was the best Danish film of the year.[16][17][18][19] It was selected to play at Sundance in 2016.[20][21]

Accolades

Land of Mine has also won numerous awards, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Danish Film at the Bodil Awards.[22]

Year Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
2015 Gijón International Film Festival Audience Award Land of Mine Won
2015 Hamburg Film Festival Art Cinema Award Land of Mine Nominated
2015 Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo Grand Prix Land of Mine Nominated
2015 Best Actor Award Roland Møller & Louis Hofmann Won
2015 Toronto International Film Festival Platform Prize Land of Mine Nominated
2016 AFI Fest World Cinema Audience Award Land of Mine Won [10]
2016 Bodil Awards Best Danish Film Land of Mine Won [23]
2016 Best Actor Roland Møller Won
2016 Best Supporting Actor Louis Hofmann Won
2016 European Film Awards Best Cinematographer Camilla Hjelm Knudsen Won [24]
2016 Best Costume Design Stefanie Bieker Won
2016 Best Hair and Make-up Barbara Kreuzer Won
2016 Gothenburg Film Festival Best Nordic Film Land of Mine Won [25]
2016 Hong Kong International Film Festival SIGNIS Awards Land of Mine Won [26]
2016 Miskolc International Film Festival Adolph Zukor Prize Land of Mine Won [27]
2016 International Federation of Film Critics Award Land of Mine Won
2016 International Ecumenical Award Land of Mine Won
2016 Mill Valley Film Festival World Cinema Audience Favorite Land of Mine 2nd Place [28]
2016 Nordic Council Nordic Council Film Prize Land of Mine Nominated [29]
2016 Rotterdam International Film Festival Warsteiner Audience Award Land of Mine Won [30][31]
2016 MovieZone Award Land of Mine Won
2016 Sydney Film Festival Audience Award Land of Mine 2nd Place
2016 Sydney Film Prize Land of Mine Nominated
2017 Academy Awards Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Land of Mine Nominated [32][33]
2018 Australian Film Critics Association Best International Film (Foreign Language) Land of Mine Nominated [34]
gollark: It's not spam if you post a stupid unrelated thing ONCE, right?
gollark: > and i need to learn it<@113673208296636420> do not. F# superior.
gollark: I have a copy at git.osmarks.tk too.
gollark: oh no.
gollark: Signs only allow 187 (I think) characters, which is less than a byte, so you have to base-187 encode them.

See also

References
  1. "Nordisk Film & TV Fond Jumps On Zandvliet's Land of Mine". Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  2. "Under sandet (Land of Mine)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  3. "Toronto International Film Festival Announces Inaugural Platform Lineup". IndieWire. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  4. "War film submitted as Denmark's Oscar entry". CPH Post. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  5. Roxborough, Scott (19 September 2016). "Oscars: Denmark Selects 'Land of Mine' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  6. Samuelson, Kate (24 January 2017). "Here Are the 2017 Oscar Nominations". Time. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  7. "UNDER SANDET - NY FILM AF MARTIN ZANDVLIET" (in Danish). Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  8. Journalist, Eva Lange Jørgensen (3 December 2015). "Historiker roser 'Under Sandet' selv om der skrues »liiige lovligt meget på drama-knappen«". Politiken. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  9. "Danish postwar drama Land of Mine tells a little known story". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  10. AFI. "Award Winners - Land of Mine". AFI Fest. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  11. Land of Mine at Rotten Tomatoes
  12. Land of Mine at Metacritic
  13. Monggaard, Christian. "Giant Canadian Hug" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  14. Farber, Stephen. "'Land of Mine': TIFF Review". The Hollywood Review. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  15. D'Arcy, David. "'Land Of Mine': Review". ScreenDaily (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  16. "Review: Land of Mine" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  17. Olsen, Jesper. "Review" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  18. Carlsen, Per Juul. "A Kick in the Head for National Feeling" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  19. Kastrup, Kim. "Land of Mine is Number 1" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  20. "SUNDANCE INSTITUTE COMPLETES FEATURE FILM LINEUP FOR 2016 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL". Sundance. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  21. "LAND OF MINE HEADING TO SUNDANCE". Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  22. /ritzau/. "Bodil Party: Post war drama wins big". b.dk (in Danish). Berlinske. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  23. "Bodil Awards 2016". Bodilprisen.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  24. "European Film Awards Winners". Variety. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  25. Göteborg Film Festival. "Winner 2016: Land of Mine at Folkteatern". giff.se. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  26. HKIFF Society. "Awards - The 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival". 40.hkiff.org.hk. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  27. CineFest. "Price Winners". Cinefest.hu. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  28. California Film Institute. "MVFF39 Audience Awards". mvff.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  29. Nordic Council. "Nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2016". norden.org. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  30. International Film Festival Rotterdam. "Moviezone Award". iffr.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  31. International Film Festival Rotterdam. "Warsteiner Audience Award". iffr.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  32. Nordyke, Kimberly (24 January 2017). "Oscars: 'La La Land' Ties Record With 14 Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  33. "Oscar Nominations: Complete List". Variety. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  34. "The 2018 AFCA Awards". Australian Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.