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Land of Mine

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Land of Mine
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMartin Zandvliet
Screenplay byMartin Zandvliet
Produced byMalte Grunert
Mikael Chr. Rieks
StarringRoland Møller
Mikkel Følsgaard
CinematographyCamilla Hjelm Knudsen
Edited byPer Sandholt
Molly Malene Stensgaard
Music bySune Martin
Distributed byNordisk Film
Release dates
  • 10 September 2015 (2015-09-10) (TIFF)
  • 3 December 2015 (2015-12-03) (Denmark)
Running time
90 minutes
CountriesDenmark
Germany
LanguagesGerman
Danish
Budget35.5 million DKK[1]
Box office$2.7 million[2]

Land of Mine (Template:Lang-da) 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] The film is inspired by real events and tells the story of German prisoners of war sent to clear mines in postwar Denmark after World War II. It is estimated that over 2,000 German soldiers, including numerous teenagers, were forced to remove mines, with nearly half of them either getting killed or losing their limbs to explosions.[7]

Plot

In the days 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, angrily harasses two German soldiers who attempt to take a Danish flag. Meanwhile, a group of young German prisoners of war are handed over to the Danish Army and subsequently sent out to the West Coast, where they are trained to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. The western coast of Denmark is said to have been more heavily fortified than the rest of Nazi-occupied Europe, as the Germans had expected the Allied invasion to take place there. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys were forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of Rasmussen. Most of them are teenage boys conscripted by Hitler in the last days of the war, and they are hopelessly ill-equipped to carry out their dangerous job. The captured German soldiers are warned by Captain Ebbe not to expect any sympathy from the Danes, who are resentful towards their former occupiers. Rasmussen shares this contempt, and he is determined to treat the young soldiers under his command without the least bit of sympathy.

Some of the young German POWs are dropped off by trucks at the seaside; most are still in their teens, feeling confused and defeated over the war. Rasmussen initially treats them rudely and contemptuously, and the neighboring household treats the boys with hostility. After marching his squad out on the dunes to search for landmines, Rasmussen promises that they will return home in three months by defusing six mines per hour. The seemingly endless task soon starts to look like a blood-letting, and even Rasmussen grows conflicted in his feelings toward his young charges. Meanwhile, their leader, Sebastian Schumer, attempts to remain optimistic, and the boys discuss their plans upon returning home. Wilhelm Hahn discusses his plans to work at his father's factory, while Helmut Morbach cynically insinuates that it has been destroyed by the war. The twin brothers Ernst and Werner Lussner plan to become bricklayers and make a fortune by reconstructing the bombed German cities.

As time passes, the POW's are not given food due to postwar shortages, and several of the boys begin to suffer from malnourishment. Wilhelm's arms are blown off, and he dies in a field hospital. After a desperate attempt to avoid starvation by stealing food from the neighboring house, the boys are poisoned by rat droppings, and Rasmussen saves their lives by forcing to them purge themselves with seawater. Afterwards, he begins to treat the boys more kindly, stealing food from the base for them and reporting that Wilhelm has survived in order to maintain morale. He also allows the boys to use a device invented by Sebastian, to improve productivity. After Rasmussen stops a group of Allied soldiers from defecating on one of the boys, he is accused of being overly sympathetic towards the Germans by Ebbe. Afterwards, Werner is blown to bits after encountering a new type of landmine, and 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, causing Rasmussen to snap and begin abusing the boys worse than before. He forces them to march together on the safe zones of the beach, with the expectation that they will be killed by unmarked landmines. He finally relents after seeing Ernst save a little girl from the minefield, and then commit suicide by wandering off on the beach. He realizes that these boys have nothing to do with the wartime German occupation of Denmark, and reassures Sebastian that they will soon return home. After a live landmine is accidentally tossed on a truckload of deactivated mines, seven of the remaining boys are killed in the explosion, and only Sebastian, Ludwig, Helmut, and Rodolf remain when the beach is cleared. 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 boys to be sent to another area, where they are to defuse landmines without the aid of a map. Rasmussen argues with Ebbe, but he refuses to rescind the order. Finding the decision extremely unjust, Rasmussen rescues them, drives them within 500 meters of the German border, and orders them to run. The film ends with Rasmussen watching the remaining boys run towards Germany.

Cast

  • Roland Møller as Sgt. Carl Leopold Rasmussen
  • Mikkel Følsgaard as Capt. Ebbe
  • 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 Hahn
  • 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

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 mine during the production.[8]

Reception

Land of Mine received critical acclaim. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 89% "Certified Fresh" rating, with an average score of 7.4/10, based on reviews from 56 critics. The 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."[9] It gained a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival,[10] 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"[11] 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".[12] 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.[13][14][15][16] It was selected to play at Sundance in 2016.[17][18]

It has won numerous awards, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Danish Film at the Bodil Awards.[19]

Accolades

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 [8]
2016 Bodil Awards Best Danish Film Land of Mine Won [20]
2016 Best Actor Roland Møller Won
2016 Best Supporting Actor Louis Hofmann Won
2016 European Film Awards Best Cinematographer Camilla Hjelm Knudsen Won [21]
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 [22]
2016 Hong Kong International Film Festival SIGNIS Awards Land of Mine Won [23]
2016 Miskolc International Film Festival Adolph Zukor Prize Land of Mine Won [24]
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 [25]
2016 Nordic Council Nordic Council Film Prize Land of Mine Nominated [26]
2016 Robert Festival Best Film Land of Mine Won [27]
2016 Best Director Martin Zandvliet Won
2016 Best Original Screenplay Martin Zandvliet Won
2016 Best Cinematography Camilla Hjelm Knudsen Won
2016 Best Editing Per Sandholt & Molly Malene Stensgaard Won
2016 Audience Award Land of Mine Won
2016 Best Actor Roland Møller Nominated
2016 Best Supporting Actor Louis Hofmann Nominated
2016 Best Supporting Actor Mikkel Boe Følsgaard Nominated
2016 Best Production Design Gitte Malling Nominated
2016 Best Costume Design Stefanie Bieker Nominated
2016 Best Make-Up Barbara Kreuzer Nominated
2016 Best Sound Rasmus Winther Jensen Nominated
2016 Best Original Score Sune Martin Nominated
2016 Rotterdam International Film Festival Warsteiner Audience Award Land of Mine Won [28][29]
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 [30][31]

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. ^ a b AFI. "Award Winners - Land of Mine". AFI Fest. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  9. ^ Land of Mine at Rotten Tomatoes
  10. ^ Monggaard, Christian. "Giant Canadian Hug" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  11. ^ Farber, Stephen. "'Land of Mine': TIFF Review". The Hollywood Review. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  12. ^ D'Arcy, David. "'Land Of Mine': Review". ScreenDaily (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Review: Land of Mine" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  14. ^ Olsen, Jesper. "Review" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  15. ^ Carlsen, Per Juul. "A Kick in the Head for National Feeling" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  16. ^ Kastrup, Kim. "Land of Mine is Number 1" (in Danish). Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  17. ^ "SUNDANCE INSTITUTE COMPLETES FEATURE FILM LINEUP FOR 2016 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL". Sundance. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  18. ^ "LAND OF MINE HEADING TO SUNDANCE". Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  19. ^ /ritzau/. "Bodil Party: Post war drama wins big". b.dk (in Danish). Berlinske. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  20. ^ "Bodil Awards 2016". Bodilprisen.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  21. ^ "European Film Awards Winners". Variety. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  22. ^ Göteborg Film Festival. "Winner 2016: Land of Mine at Folkteatern". giff.se. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  23. ^ HKIFF Society. "Awards - The 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival". 40.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  24. ^ CineFest. "Price Winners". Cinefest.hu. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  25. ^ California Film Institute. "MVFF39 Audience Awards". mvff.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  26. ^ Nordic Council. "Nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2016". norden.org. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  27. ^ "Robert Winners". Filmakademiet.dk/ (in Danish). Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  28. ^ International Film Festival Rotterdam. "Moviezone Award". iffr.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  29. ^ International Film Festival Rotterdam. "Warsteiner Audience Award". iffr.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  30. ^ Nordyke, Kimberly (24 January 2017). "Oscars: 'La La Land' Ties Record With 14 Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 January 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ "Oscar Nominations: Complete List". Variety. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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