Mads Mikkelsen rages in 18th-century Scandinavia; Drive My Car’s director returns; a Palestine back story; and more…

The true heir to Max Von Sydow?: Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land

HENRIKOHSTEN/ZENTROPA

THE PROMISED LAND In his ability to span the realms of big-budget franchise farragos –weeping terror financier Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006), glam rock sorcerer Kaecilius in Dr Strange (2016), Death Starchitect Galen Erso in Rogue One (2016) – and austere Danish psychological thrillers like The Hunt, Mads Mikkelsen may be the true heir to Max Von Sydow. “I don’t believe in God,” he declared matter-of-factly, back in his first Bond venture, “I believe in areasonable rate of return.”

As rewarding as playing dandified Nazis in the latest Indiana Jones sequel must be for his bank balance, it rarely gives Mads the actor much to work with. So it’s arelief to find him front and centre of The Promised Land, raring to sink those delectable eye-teeth into the role of Captain Ludvig Kahlen, aretired Danish military officer, determined to squander his life savings into ahare-brained scheme to cultivate potatoes in the blasted heaths of 18th-century Denmark.

As unlikely as it might seem, The Promised Land might the best western of the 21st century so far. Playing Kahlen as apitiless visionary, raging against the elements, the unyielding soil, the landed gentry and his own humane instincts, Mikkelsen certainly give us a godforsaken performance up there with Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven.

Director Nikolaj Arcel got his fingers burnt venturing to Hollywood for the misbegotten 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s gunslinging multiverse The Dark Tower, but he’s on surer ground here, conjuring cosmic desolation from the wild west Jutland moors. Kahlen ventures out alone, but soon finds assistance from servants escaping the brutal local lord (a delightful Simon Bennebjerg), plus the local travellers community. Naturally his plans are thwarted just as the first shoots of hope appear.