I am glad that in Europe they still make cool films - the cinema is really good. The motives of the characters are difficult to understand in many ways. We didn’t live at that time, we were filmmakers.
It's a great movie, it takes you into an era. Interesting life in Denmark and the disassembly of landlords and servants of the king ... as always, the opposition of the system and a small species of man, but everything is not so simple.
The eternal choice between what a person dreams of and what he really needs
By name and annotation (by the way, it was rewrote) only lazy was trampled. I will not repeat myself, but I note that the phrase "I am the sword of the king" is pronounced by Mikkelsen's hero. The tragedy is that he believes this, while to the rest of the world he is just a 'Bastard'.
I love Mads very much and have seen a lot of his filmography. Because, in fact, I watched this film, and not because of my great love for the history of Denmark.
I was disappointed.
It is difficult for me to sympathize with the main character. He's stubbornly stupid. Why not boil 6 potatoes to save a child’s life instead of cutting a goat? Not clear.
I was shocked to learn that the novel we saw was called Captain and Anne Barbara. So she has to be the main character of the story from the start? But it becomes almost like this in the middle of the film.
It's about not liking it. I like the conflict between what I want and what I want.
The dreams of Ludwig Kahlen made him a truly outstanding person. Ready to go for this dream to anything. He immediately sets a very ambitious price for his work, which is accepted only because what he planned is impossible.
And the bride of his main enemy, secretly agreeing to become Ludwig's wife - an additional prize so that he remembers what he is fighting for. As a fairytale hero, Ludwig Kalen takes on the impossible to get a nobility and almost a princess from the upper aristocratic circles. We see that the simple soldier Kalen sees her almost as a magical fairy, an unearthly woman, about whom he dared not even dream.
While the reward hangs in front of him like a carrot in front of a donkey, there are other people nearby. Simple and hardworking. Separating his adversities and pointing to the insanity of those in power: do you really want to be with them and not with us, Ludwig?
In pursuit of a goal, he kicks out the child he really loves. Puts out the door a woman who shares nights with him to awkwardly keep silent with his unearthly diva.
He constantly hurts those who love him to please those who do not care about him. “The king doesn’t even know you exist!” shouts Anne Barbara in her hearts.
It's a sad story that, in my opinion, could have been told quite differently if the director had devoted more screen time to Edel and the nightmare she lived in and the backstory of Anne Barbara, who resolved the final conflict and saved Calen.
I'm fine. It's a blurry ending because the writers haven't fully felt the story, and the last third or last quarter of the film floats around. I liked not only the role of the main character, which was awarded various prizes, but also the main woman in the film Anne Barbara and how she was played. In general, the most cute character in the film is she, a fighting friend, played by Danish actress Amanda Collin.
In fact, the film is called “Bastards” because it is about the confrontation of two bystruks. Only one grew up in a stern peasant who made his way into his own life, and the second - in an evil flawed bastard who was used to getting everything he wanted, from land and money to the wives of his serfs. Very informative historical Scandi film. Denmark, the 18th century, is not much different from the Middle Ages. A retired captain decides to master the virgin uninhabited lands on which the local oligarch has views. And he begins to plot the captain. The animal essence of Danish serfdom is shown very clearly. Our Saltychikh is not suitable for a local landowner in brutality and impunity. In the end, Saltychikh for mocking the serfs was put to hard labor. And here is complete lawlessness, absolutely unlimited. The places are creepy, cold, damp and dreary, worse than the Greenspan quagmire. The captain spins, as he can, overcomes and oversteps, and in the course of the case betrays people close to him for the sake of the cause, but severely squeezing thin lips. And then when he hits the wall with his horns, the women take him and solve all his problems for him. Everything seems good, and Mads Michelsen is, traditionally, great. But the fact that everything was decided not by the hero of the film, but for him, somehow spoils the impression. And the point is not even in a full-length agenda, namely that as if in an orchestra of string instruments, the final chord would suddenly take and put a horn. Dissonance.
The film reflects our modernity like never before.
A spoiled narcissist with God syndrome, completely devoid of empathy and mercy, endowed with influence and power from birth, freely does what he sees fit. There will be no punishment for his actions.
The noble ambitious, retired soldier, with good intentions and a desire to achieve the title and patronage of the king, goes to his goals according to the rules of morality and law.
It’s a story about strength of mind, about the choice of ‘surrender or move forward’, knowing that you can kill innocent people at any moment. I admire the perseverance, courage and courage of the people of that time, which is now quite rare among us.
The designation of their rules and principles is not to the liking of many. This suggests that we should bend our line, within the framework of the law, combined with common sense.
I recommend watching the movie. He will definitely be remembered by you with beautiful cold landscapes, stunning acting and very cruel scenes of violence.
However, in parallel with this difficult story, there is a lot of love! Love for a woman, for children, for your friends, partners and your work.
As a highly sensitive person, I shed a lot of tears in the cinema, feeling helpless in the face of a cruel and unjust world, realizing that it exists now, among us. And of course, as a woman, thank God if there is one, that I was born in the 21st century, where the word woman has weight.
The historical drama about a retired officer who volunteered to conquer the wild lands of Denmark, staged by Nikolaev Arcel (he long moved away from the failure of the Dark Tower), came out very intriguing. Before us is Mads Mikkelsen, who does not change his image for several roles in a row. The program "One more at a time" was delayed. But for the 18th century, this image of Captain Ludwig looks quite acceptable.
The plot throws us into the wastelands of which Parliament is well aware, but these lands are wild, with no agricultural development and at least no settlers. Some gypsies-nomads (a phrase from the movie "Big Kush"). The problem is that the rest of the area around the wasteland is owned by Judge Frederick de Schinkel. The tape perfectly shows that all officials do not care who will develop the land, the main thing is that the king was aware that the land is not abandoned.
The original title of the film “Bastard”, which immediately shows a slightly different meaning of the whole plot, since we found out who the main character is. The film puts first a small confrontation between the judge and Ludwig to show power and strength. The character also faces various problems and difficulties, so it seems that his idea of land management is doomed to failure.
Strength of spirit, rough temper and complexity reveal before us the character of Mads. The plot throws up a meeting with runaway servants who have their own motives. Rocks all the turmoil restless Frederick, who goes to all methods only to drive Mads away. The other side of agriculture is the workers, who have nowhere to run, but are very superstitious, so they have their own working conditions. The more Louis takes countermeasures against the actions of the judge, the more he becomes more humane towards his people.
All the cruelty and madness of the judge we see from the sidelines. Such techniques are aimed at intimidation and intimidation. The viewer literally hates the judge, but at the same time understands that he can not put anything in return, which means that attempts to remove Mads will be more dangerous and dangerous. It is also impressive how the hero tries to achieve a harvest, to show everyone that he can establish a habitable settlement here. Severe weather conditions, soil problems, human intervention – we go through each stage with Mikkelsen. The actor perfectly conveys drama and severity.
The culmination is the height of the confrontation, when the law cannot stop what is happening in the judge's castle. The plot shoots off some important events to show how Ludwig is no longer confronting the judge, but the entire Danish legal system.
A historical drama about how a bastard wants to achieve his goal by completing an impossible task. After all the dangerous and cruel events, the picture lowers its intensity of passions to tell about what happened next in the reference before the credits. In general, the tape came out intriguing, interesting and cruel. It is striking that the hero cannot go to extreme measures, while constantly fighting for his territory.
Regarding the localization of the title of the film and its description, only lazy did not speak. So I'll abstain. You can only give advice - watch the film, before you localize it.
Mid-18th century, Denmark. Retired Captain Ludwig Cullen asks royal permission to build a settlement in the Wastelands, a godforsaken place in northern Denmark infested with bandits. Ludwig is in his 50s, single and of all his savings, a modest military pension. However, he does not need royal content, all he is interested in is the title of nobility.
It so happened that the father of our hero, a lustful nobleman, who could not help but pass by any, even a little boyishly, handsome maid. Ludwig is a bastard and this is very poisonous to his life.
The plan is quite simple, Ludwig has several bags of unpretentious potatoes, which are not currently grown in Denmark.
Having received permission, Ludwig goes on a journey, where he begins to work, while being robbed by a Roma camp next door.
Next to him, work for food and a roof over his head runaway serf husband with his wife, Johansen and Anne, as well as a young priest - Anton, who wants to establish a parish in these lands.
The arrival of the colonists causes extreme irritation of the local landowner, Frederick De Schinkel.
He - considers himself the full master of these lands, Frederick - very cruel, depraved and corrupted by absolute power. It was from him that the serfs who now work for our main character escaped.
And it is the relationship of Ludwig and Frederick that is the main line of this film.
Without foreplay, I can safely say that this is a beautiful film. He is very gloomy, he is very cruel, at the same time he is very touching and, at times, tender.
Mads Mikkelsen, I consider one of the strongest actors of our time. The range of his roles is incredibly wide, and it is always an immersion in the role.
Ludwig is a gloomy middle-aged man, very private, extremely verbose, very consistent and responsible. He seems insensitive and totally devoid of empathy. He does not trust anyone because no one trusts him. This is how life is made, this is how people are made.
It is so much better to watch this movie. The film is about how life grows on a harsh land, despite obstacles, how the earth begins to thank for care. How true, true love grows. The film is atypical of our time because it shows the value of family. It shows the value of women as guardians of the hearth, men as protectors and children as hope for the future.
Again, this is a very dark, violent movie. But it is also bright.
Separately, I will note the supporting roles - Amanda Collin, who plays Anne, is beautiful. She had a very challenging role, a very complex character arc, and she did a great job. The gray mouse at the beginning of the film, creating the deceptive impression of an ordinary, rude, uneducated peasant woman, turns into a beautiful, sensual woman and a real combat cat girl. It was a pleasure to watch her.
It is impossible not to mention Simon Bennebjerg, who played Frederick. The antagonist is magnificent and very ambiguous. It's not just a cardboard-lob villain. Frederick, despite all my disgust for him, is very intelligent, ironic, his main sin is excessive pride. At some point, he is pretty cynical. The scenes of torture are perfectly shown, Frederick is amused by torture, but he does not get any pleasure from them. To him, torture is just a fun control tool. Frederick is not a template sadist, he is a much deeper character than he immediately seems. As a result, just brilliantly spelled villain, just as brilliantly played.
9 out of 10
I'm dropping one for a conditional happy ending. I understand why it was made, it is necessary, perhaps for some super-purpose of the work. However, in real life, alas, happy endings do not happen.
Excellent. A very smart, memorable movie that I will definitely review.
In the past, it was not easy for an ordinary commoner to achieve anything more. To become a real nobleman, a person had to work long and hard, perform a special feat and hope for a special disposition of the monarch, which sometimes seemed simply impossible. However, the main character of the film “The King’s Sword” performed by Mads Mikkelsen believed in his happy fate and decided on a big adventure, for which he staked literally everything he had.
The story takes place in the middle of the 18th century in Denmark. In the spotlight is retired military man Ludwig von Kalen, the son of a peasant woman and a nobleman who abandoned his child and never recognized him. From a young age, Kalen set himself the goal of getting the title and becoming an equal to the local nobles, for which he went to the army and achieved certain successes there, becoming a valiant officer and commander. However, it was not enough to get the title.
When Calen learns that King Frederick is going to master the harsh wastelands of the Jutland Peninsula for agricultural purposes, which is a very difficult task, the hero arrives at the palace in order to be allowed to take on such an ungrateful and complex business. And if he succeeds, then Kalena is awarded the title of nobility. In the end, he gets the right to cultivate the lands of Jutland and, if successful, a colony will be founded there, and the hero will finally get the recognition he always dreamed of. However, the local large landowner Frederick Schinkel believes that it is not for the king to decide who is in charge in this area, and therefore Ludwig von Kalen gets a very strong and insidious opponent, the confrontation with which will not be easy.
Interestingly, the Sword of the King was based on a true story, based on which a rather popular historical and adventure book was written. So it is not surprising that director Nikolai Arcel (The Dark Tower) decided to take up the film adaptation and attracted his longtime friend Mads Mikkelsen to the filming. The film itself came out quite gloomy and harsh, just to match the complex historical era and the terrain in which the action takes place. The main character was not going to be a valiant defender of justice and a rebel. He just wanted what he was born with, even though his father had turned him down. And he will have a long exhausting journey ahead, cultivating the land in frankly difficult conditions and confronting a nobleman who is alien to the concepts of honor and conscience.
In the story of Ludwig von Kalen, there is room for unpredictable intrigue, betrayal and pain. But at the same time, there is also love and hope, which gradually lead the main character to understand that the title is certainly good, but if he can stand up against injustice and evil will, he must do it. And this transformation was a pleasant and inspiring discovery for me.
“The King’s Sword” turned out to be a rather difficult film with complex problems and tough human drama. And that is why this story deserves attention, because it speaks honestly to us about difficult things, and it is interesting to follow the developments here until the very end.
The Danish king sends his best knight to control the wilderness as long as his hand stretches. But here, behind the walls of high castles, its own laws. Local princes are in no hurry to obey the royal viceroy. They decide who will cultivate their land and who will rest in it forever. The conflict is aggravated by the beautiful maiden promised by his father to the local feudal lord. To leave her is to lose honor. To save is to condemn oneself to certain death. But where an experienced politician retreats, the true knight bares the sword.
Russian film distributors once again broke another bottom level. The Bastarden is the sword of the king. Okay, I'll know, thank you! So the official description of the plot resembles the delusions of a schizophrenic. No knights (hello, in the courtyard of the mid-eighteenth century, campesoles, muskets, pistols), nor even more swords in the frame is observed, and the rest looks like a set of words from the series “I hear the ringing, but I do not know where it is.” Especially delivered "as long as his hand stretches."
As for the film itself, Nikolai Arcel shot a fairly standard story on real events about the confrontation of an ordinary person and an abominable and maniacal influential landowner in the spirit of “commoners against noblemen.” Filmed classics in the spirit of the conventional “Rob Roy” of the 90s: beautiful and very beautiful shooting in nature without any green screens, good textured artists, an interesting plot, due tension, branded Scandinavian severity, and closer to the final will be a short action scene.
In terms of dynamics, everything is sedate here, but it is not boring, the film looks with interest, although it does not offer anything new in terms of the script. Mads Mikkelsen is monumental and as always good, Simon Bennebjerg gave out excellent cattle, and, externally, he sometimes resembled Sam Smith - in some shots and angles like a twin brother. Amanda Collin from “Raised by Wolves” is beautiful and with the proper rod, the rest are also in the images and the eye are pleasant. Especially liked the skoda black girl Melina Hagberg - such a lively, natural and bright image turned out.
In general, it turned out to be a good typical and well-tailored genre film. Fans of good artists and harsh costume productions can safely take, although if you miss, you will not lose anything. I enjoyed it and didn’t regret it at all.
Sword of the King: How did the name change everything?
It was only when I saw our localized film title, as well as its annotation, that I immediately thought it would be a beautiful, epic historical movie (only I had no idea what events and personalities it would be about, but come on). Accordingly, the expectations for the film were completely different, going to such a movie, usually I just want to admire the recreation of historical events, and the picture comes to the fore. But not this time... Thanks to (or contrary to) the completely inappropriate title of the film “The King’s Sword”, I experienced a storm of crazy emotions.
Of course, you should start with the figure of Mads Mikkelsen, you could immediately guess what kind of films this actor is. But I trusted the description, as always missing the trailer, and the annotation of this film is fundamentally wrong.
The king of Denmark sends his best knight to conquer the wilderness. But here, behind the walls of high castles, its own laws. Local princes are in no hurry to obey the royal viceroy. They decide who will cultivate their land and who will rest in it forever. The conflict is aggravated by the beautiful maiden promised by his father to the local feudal lord. To leave her is to lose honor. To save is to condemn oneself to certain death. But where an experienced politician retreats, the true knight draws the sword.
First of all, there is no Danish king in this film, or rather, he is not shown, which serves as a spectacular reception of the alienation and coldness of power. Secondly, the character of Mads Mikkelsen (Ludwig Kalen) is no knight (what kind of knights in the XVIII century?!), except that only moral, at that time in Europe already flourished army and military affairs. Thirdly, the Danish king did not send Ludwig Kalen anywhere, none of the authorities placed any bets on new lands, this is a volitional decision of Ludwig alone. So, what is the real plot of the film and why the title does not fully correspond to it?
There is not a single sword in the film, and the moral sword of the king to call the character of Mikkelsen is possible only with a bit of doubt. Ludwig Kalen is a bastard, the son of a serf, pregnant by her landlord; from birth he has no social status, but creates it for himself, rises up the social ladder at the expense of a 25-year service in the army, reaching the rank of captain. The original title of the film sounds like “Bastarden”, which means “bastard”, with this name, this movie immediately finds meaning and outlines the theme. I will continue in this text to call him "Bastard."
The film "Bastard" touches on a vast meta-subject field, a film about class struggle, strong personality, racism, slavery and greed. But if you have to put it in one word, it’s a film about injustice. Ludwig Calen sets out to conquer the new lands of Denmark entirely at his own expense, because the royal retinue laughs at him and does not believe in his capabilities. If successful, the retired captain will receive a title of nobility. On the way of Ludwig there are many difficulties, starting from weather conditions and ending with human greed. People of different social strata and backgrounds will alternately work with him, but the antagonist throughout the picture will be the caustic landowner Frederick Schinkel.
I warn you right away, “Bastard” is a very heavy film, you can even say not for the faint of heart, again, back to the fact that the title turned everything around. There will be many scenes of violence, death, killing of animals. And in general, it is maintained in a very depressing atmosphere, fully consistent with its own stated theme. A film about feudal injustice could not look different. I am very glad that finally made such a tough, heavy film, telling about Europe of the XVIII century.
Mads Mikkelsen fit perfectly into this oppressive film, definitely "Bastard" is the best of the last I went to the movies. And I don't even know if it's good or bad in my case that there was a completely different attitude to the film. But I sincerely went to the historical picture, and “Bastard” very smoothly turned me into a completely different emotional path, this is really a strong movie, like riding you on a roller coaster. At first, the film goes very smoothly, even in some moments it resembled “Lost in the Ice”, also with Mikkelsen, I even thought that this is some kind of plotless author’s film in a historical manner. In general, the first 30-40 minutes of the film had to be sorted out, and what kind of film would this be? And as soon as you begin to understand all his cruelty, the most interesting thing begins.
The film is about how a captain from the bottom tried to grow potatoes in the sweat of his face in the wastelands of Jutland in the era of Louis XV and Catherine II.
In fact, the picture itself looks like this phrase - the wrapper is interesting, but inside only dirty potato on the faded background of past centuries in moth-eaten wigs.
Good historical drama in the classical style slowly drags the viewer through the uncool bumps of measured narrative.
Mads perfectly plays an almost emotionless log with one facial expression. I readily believe that with all the hardships of life, the retired poor captain, whose main goal was to rise from these hardships and the torn camsol, looked like that. But that doesn’t add to the interest.
Society is also shown to be similarly reliable, especially since we have seen such a thousand times.
The aristocrats aristocrats at balls, hunting, with maids, collect the vocation with corvée, sometimes cook in a bin dissatisfied with the social system of the serfs.
Those, as usual, persistently tolerate or sometimes unstable run into forests and various wastelands.
The king is drunk, his ministers are busy with ministerial affairs and distracting the king from distracting them from important matters.
The main property in the country that did not win the industrial revolution is land, and therefore the farther the landowner from the center of Copenhagen, the more zealously he protects it from this center.
Even useless, especially seemingly useless, on which suddenly grows a potato Mads-Napoleon (or rather, by the era, Potemkin) with an irrepressible desire to build on it the royal Promised Land and bring law to the land of bushes and robbers.
Naturally, the local peasant owners are not happy with this, on which the conflict is built.
The main antagonist is childishly cruel, petty, selfish and touchy.
The rest of the characters are potatoes in varying degrees.
I'm not going to tell you the story, it's about potato farming.
The twist in the plot looked at me with a cut eye toward the end of the tuber when I got to it on rewind.
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Interesting:
The director previously shot including a good “Royal Novel” with the same Mads and the Dark Tower, where Idris Elba makes an epic pee-pee on Stephen King.
Writers include Anders Thomas Jensen (Knights of Justice, Men and Chickens, Adam’s Apples, Green Butchers), but he is often better at writing scripts for his films than for others.
The film is based on the book Captain and Anne Barbara. I don't know about the book, but in the movie, the story of the captain farmer is changed and not for the better. For example, the translation said that before military service, Kalen had gardeners, but in fact he was a surveyor, which explains much better his knowledge of land laws and his appointment as a surveyor in the film.
Googled the Danish Wikipedia found out that in Denmark there is a park with memorial stones on the site of the same wasteland (Kongenshus Mindepark for Hedens Opdyrkere) and it looks much better in the photo than the landscapes in the film.
In Denmark before the beginning of the XIX century there was serfdom, but then until the beginning of the XX in the agricultural sector there was not very rich, and frankly very poor.
The wasteland has other heroes of heather remediation and transplantation - Jens Jensen Stoulund. The article in the wiki is no worse than the script of the King's Sword (Danish only, translation to help).
Score: A firm 5 out of 10 for Mads and a love of root crops.
The description of the film does not correspond to reality. Here already described in detail in the comments, what is really the picture. There are a lot of cruel scenes in the film - realistic killings of animals, people, torture. Therefore, I do not recommend sensitive viewers to watch. The age limit will be 18+ (well, not 12+, as did those who set up a false annotation for the film for hire, clearly not watching it). The film is based on the historical novel by Danish writer Ida Jessen, published in 2020. The novel takes place in Denmark in 1754.
This is how you can characterize the life path of the main characters of the new Danish film “The Sword of the King” by Nicholas Arcel, based on real historical events.
The focus here is Ludwig Kalen, who spent 25 years in the army and despite his low social status managed to earn the title of captain. Freed from military duty, the man creates an ambitious life-defining plan and goes to the king's council.
He says he wants the right to cultivate land that is considered infertile. And if he succeeds in curbing the desert land, he wants to receive from the king a noble title and appropriate material security.
The Council agrees, although it does not plan to fulfill its part of the agreement. So the hero of Mads Mikkelsen finds himself in the wasteland and begins his war with the land, the weather, thieves, a hostile nobleman who considers this land his and other misfortunes. . .
In an effort to achieve this goal, Ludwig Kahlen goes to literally everything - to murder, to hard labor, to starvation, to the prospect of absolute lack of money, and to part with the only value of his life - the captain's medal. With the development of the plot, it will become clear to the audience that this man is so purposefully striving to succeed, get the title and become his own at court is not by chance. He craves it because he is the illegitimate son of a nobleman.
The Sword of the King is revealed to the audience in many ways. It is a story of goal-setting and overcoming numerous obstacles. This is the story of the poor man's confrontation with the powerful rich man. This is a story of parenthood and family. This is a story of love and self-sacrifice.
A beautiful, traditional historical film. In 2012, Nikolai Arcel and Mads Mikkelsen filmed a story based on real events about a poor man and his attempts to fit into the royal court. It was The Royal Novel. They are very different, but at the core of both stories is the brutality of the aristocracy surrounding the king, who care for their own well-being. Such a selfish attitude eventually turns into harm for the king, for the development of the country and cruel punishments for all those who do not like it.
The film's rating is 7.8 in IMDB and 7.2 in Kinopoisk. But if you haven’t seen The Royal Novel, I recommend watching it first, not this novelty.
Mads is like wine that gets better over the years.
I think Mikkelsen is an actor who gets better over the years. The beautiful Dane did not disappoint this time.
Of course, the first thing that catches the eye after watching the film is the inconsistency of the title of the essence of the film. But that's been talked about. I would like to emphasize good camera work, directorial and, of course, acting. Maybe because the film is Danish, and not the usual worn-out American, the plot is not oversaturated with vulgar erotic scenes, there are no large-scale battles and the hero does not build all the charm for himself a la Wick, Iron Man and the like. The film is about the nobility of the soul, about difficult choices, about hard work, about love that comes through long friendship and mutual understanding, and not on the basis of only animal instinct.
Sometimes it seems that Mads’ face in all films remains the same, but today’s actors would learn from him just by bending an eyebrow or a soulful look silently convey such a range of emotions that you can not take your eyes off the film. What is particularly intriguing and keeps in suspense is just his silence, the hard work of thought, when everything is at stake.
The film is not for fans of action movies or special effects, but it is for those who love a good movie that can leave a deep mark on the soul and consciousness.
9 out of 10
After some thought, trying to understand why this film was made, I can write a review. The movie is definitely not for recreation. There is an evolutionary rule followed by all social animals. His formulation was once read by biologist Alexander Markov: “Try to act in such a way that others around you were better, and not expecting anything in return, but if someone from around does not do the same, then do not do this to him again – he is a stranger (not normal).” It's a memory quote and not accurate. Virtually all the movies are about social relationships and the moral part of justice, and this is what they're about. An illustration of the work of this law for a strong man is a movie. This is the only way I can explain the meaning of this film. As for the technical score, like most Scandinavian films, this one has to be looked at at at 1.25. Everything else is fine. Not glossy, but lookable. I can't believe it was, but who knows what it was like?? But that’s not the main thing in these films.
I think it is time to organize a film award for the best localized version of a foreign film for our distributors. The way distributors famously change the original titles of films is no longer surprising, but to change the annotation is quite a rare phenomenon.
On February 29, the Danish-Swedish historical film “The King’s Sword” with Mads Mikkelsen in the main birthplace is released in Russia. The original title of the movie "Bastarden". What a bastard means, I don't think I need to explain it to anyone. According to the Russian version of the film, the Danish king sends his best knight to curb the wild lands as long as his hand stretches. But here, behind the walls of high castles, its own laws. Local princes are in no hurry to obey the royal viceroy. They decide who will cultivate their land and who will rest in it forever. The conflict is aggravated by the beautiful maiden promised by his father to the local feudal lord. To leave her is to lose honor. To save is to condemn oneself to certain death. But where an experienced politician retreats, a true knight draws his sword.
In fact, the king did not send the main character to conquer the wild lands. It was entirely the hero’s initiative. There was a call from the king to all the people of the country. This is the same as in Russia, President Putin once urged his citizens to develop Siberian lands for a certain amount of money. In the film, the initiative of the hero with not much enthusiasm was taken by the court of the king, who was not aware of what was happening. He did not know the hero and never met him. And the main character was not a knight, but a simple poor soldier, who received a high award for bravery in battle. The hero wanted to cultivate the land, earn a fortune on it and receive a noble title. His father was noble, and his mother was simple. Of course, the parent did not recognize the son, so it is necessary to achieve everything by the hero himself. He left for distant lands and began to literally plow the land with his own hands, but soon the spoiled local landowner did not like this idea, and he began to actually survive the uninvited guest. He understood that if the bastard could improve the land and harvest a large crop, he would lose influence and power. Meanwhile, the rich "major" tried to marry the daughter of a high-ranking official. But the girl categorically did not want this, so she used the conflict between the landowner and the soldier for her own purposes, hinting that she would rather marry a decent man after receiving the title. But the description says that the hero, if he leaves her, will lose honor. The question is, what honor will the main character lose, who also used a young lady to rise in the eyes of the royal nobility, if he himself marries her? And about the salvation and death of the girl - this is generally fabulous fictions of the author. It seems that the author did not watch the film and wrote the text, starting from the trailer.
Here is the translation of the original film description: Poor soldier Ludwig Kahlen arrives in 1755 in the barren Jutland wasteland with a single purpose: to follow the call of the king to cultivate the land and thereby achieve wealth and honor. But Calen quickly makes an enemy. The ruthless landowner Frederick De Schinkel, the sole ruler of the territory, believes that the wasteland belongs to him, not the king. When the serf De Schinkel escapes with his wife Anna Barbara and seeks refuge with Kalen, the landlord does everything to drive Kalen away and at the same time commit cruel revenge. Calen does not bow, but stubbornly accepts an unequal fight and now risks not only his life, but also the connection with the small, troubled family that arose around him in the wasteland.
As for the film itself, I would definitely recommend it. In addition to high-quality production and chic acting work, the film tells the amazing story of the hero, who at first followed one path, and came to a completely different ending, which will surely surprise many. This is an extremely exciting, atmospheric and convincing story for all fans of historical films. In addition, it is the winner of the Venice Festival and a contender for an Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film. There is no hint of art house or author's film. This is a one hundred percent genre movie for the mass viewer, who will definitely be satisfied after watching.
I cannot but admire (once again!) the art of the masters, localizing the titles of films for you and me, the gray, the poor, who do not speak foreign languages. It turns out that the word "bastarden" translates as "sword of the king"!
The film is what foreigners call guilty pleasure. 'Danish king sends his best knight' - knight? In the eighteenth century? Mikkelsen’s heroes are a retired captain, and the king does not suspect of his existence, and he does not “send” him anywhere, the captain himself takes the initiative ... however, enough about it.
Nikolai Arcel made a rare movie, a movie about a man with a sense of his own dignity. The hero of the film is an upright man, an example of ascending vertical mobility, illegitimate (as the name suggests), who made himself despite all class barriers and partitions. He is not a revolutionary, he accepts the existing system as a given (in response to the antagonist’s taunt, he says, ‘these are the rules’). And even within the framework of such (estate-hierarchical) system, the hero seeks to change his position in society.
Arcel's film is like a magic box with many compartments. You open one tier, followed by another. We can see this movie as a story of rising social mobility, a story of a marginalized man who is striving for success. One can see here the class struggle between the progressive farmer and the feudal feudal serf who clings to his class privileges. There is a personal conflict here - both heroes want to immerse their "iron ringing in the soft, in the feminine." But their motives are different. For Schinkel, marriage to a relative of the Norwegian king is a way to cement his status, and Captain Keller sees the suffocated vagina of the royal relative as a social elevator shaft capable of lifting him to the top of the hierarchical chain. In general, the film turned out to be multifaceted.
The element of the main character is a struggle. The fight against inert, hostile nature. The struggle with the carriers of an inert, class-based worldview (Schinkel, or as he himself emphasizes at every convenient and inconvenient occasion - De Schinkel), the fight against obscurantism and xenophobia of the German colonists. The struggle of Order and Chaos. It is no coincidence that the director sends his hero to the swamps. Swamp is a metaphor. This is an image of Danish society of the XVIII century. Will the hero be able to escape from his suffocating tops? Struggle, struggle, struggle...
The leisurely, lulling pace of the narrative, pastoral paintings, scenes of agricultural labor are punctuated by outbursts of old, unkind, ferocious violence. The director skillfully pumps up suspense, and at the right moment skillfully defuses the situation in the most unexpected way. Catharsis guaranteed.
Mads Mikkelsen’s face looked like a mask doubled by winds and storms. Relief is marked by numerous leathery folds, bumps are longitudinal wrinkles, hair is gray. One thing remains unchanged - the actor's ability to remain calm in the most extreme situations. Captain Keller is a complex character who finds himself in a situation of moral choice every minute. Small tactical victories of the hero turn into strategic losses, life constantly tests him for strength, and by the end of the film, it seems that the material from which the character is created, here - this will not stand, and will give a crack. . .
Bottom line.
It’s the best movie I’ve seen this year.
Prost!