The Promised Land (2023)
Original title: Bastarden
Release dates: 31 August 2023 (Venice), 5 October 2023 (Denmark)
Running time: 2h 7m
Languages: Danish, German
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Writers: Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen, Ida Jessen
Based on: The Captain and Ann Barbara, by Ida Jessen
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin, Gustav Lindh, Simon Bennebjerg, Morten Hee Andersen, Kristine Kujath Thorp
Plot summary: In the mid-18th century, Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen), after retiring from the German Army, decides to start anew on Denmark’s Jutland moorland, aiming to cultivate the land and earn a noble title for his efforts. His arrival and ambitions quickly put him at odds with Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), a powerful and ruthless local magistrate who has his sights set on controlling the moorland. Kahlen’s struggle is compounded by his illegal employment of Romani Travellers and escaped serfs, Johannes Eriksen (Morten Hee Andersen) and his wife Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin), who seek refuge from de Schinkel’s harsh rule. Amidst these tensions, Kahlen forms a bond with Edel Helene (Kristine Kujath Thorp), de Schinkel’s unwilling betrothed, who sees in Kahlen a chance to avoid marriage to her cousin if he can secure a noble status.
The narrative escalates as Kahlen’s efforts to establish his settlement are met with severe challenges, including a brutal winter and de Schinkel’s violent attempts to sabotage his success. Despite these obstacles, Kahlen’s settlement flourishes, leading to royal recognition but also to a deadly confrontation instigated by de Schinkel. The climax sees a mix of triumph and tragedy: Kahlen’s settlement is initially successful, but de Schinkel’s relentless envy results in a violent clash that leaves the settlement in jeopardy, Kahlen arrested, and a cycle of revenge that culminates in de Schinkel’s gruesome death. In the aftermath, Kahlen’s dream is both realized and lost; he frees Ann Barbara, and together they flee, leaving behind the settlement and the noble title he once sought, embarking on an uncertain future.
* * *
Your Majesty. The carriage is waiting.
Yes please. We’ll drive when I’m ready.
Ludvig Kahlen, we are ready for you.
Chancellor of Paul
So who do we have here?
Captain Kahlen has returned home after 25 years of service in the German army.
He is applying for permission to to build on the Jutland heath.
Nice, nice drawings, soldier. It’s just a waste of your time.
The heath cannot be cultivated.
All land can be cultivated.
A third of the kingdom lies deserted. It’s a blemish.
I can subdue the earth. I can build the first colony on the heath.
This is nothing but heather and stones and sand. Nothing can grow there.
It has been proven time and time again of better men than you.
With all due respect, I would like to ask for to represent the king himself.
Yes of course. Is anybody there is nice to call on His Majesty?
We don’t waste any more of the state’s money to cultivate the heath.
Especially not on a conceited soldier in a shabby uniform. Get him out.
I’m not asking you for a penny. I finance it myself.
How?
I have my captain’s pension.
It’s nothing.
Let’s say you succeed to build a colony.
What do you think should be the reward for your generous offer?
A noble title with associated estates and servants.
Would you like to wait outside please?
He is nobody. His mother was maid in a manor house.
He became a seaman, until he joined the German army.
He managed to stay captain despite his low status.
His demands are crazy.
The requirements don’t matter.
We could promise him to be emperor. There is no one who can cultivate that land.
But as long as he’s out there, then we can say to His Majesty, that we are still fighting for his beloved heath project.
(door opens)
Captain Kahlen, come inside. We have good news.
(thunder)
Help! Help me!
(branch breaks)
A little telmaj for a poor man little dill all alone in the forest.
What a fine bings you are. You must have lots of money.
(shout and whistle)
Why the hell did you choose to build a house right in my county?
The hands of the diligent shall prevail.
What’s in the boxes?
I wanted to know that too.
They came all the way from Mecklenburg.
I do not understand all that secrecy.
Are these all my men?
I need more than that if The house must be ready before autumn.
No enterprising men want out to kill himself out on the heath.
I need three times as many. Then you have to find them in the neighboring towns.
I have buttock boils the size of swan eggs. They do not thrive on the road.
In addition, the forests are teeming with outlaws. Before I forget. Five Riksdaler.
As county commissioner, I must be compensated for my toil in getting everything on the list.
Plus horses to transport all that shit to the world’s arsehole.
Yes, sorry, priest.
Captain, may I show you something?
I have the solution on your problem with manpower.
You have no idea how happy I am, that you have chosen our parish.
It is high time that God’s light shines on the heath.
Come on. I think, I have found a home for you.
Johannes Eriksen, an experienced farmer, and his wife, Ann Barbara.
It is illegal to hire refugees.
They have fled from a brutal master.
Eriksen can work hard, and Ann Barbara is a skilled housekeeper.
We can work for half time, sir.
We only ask for our own chamber, so Ann Barbara should not sleep with the men.
a chamber, two meals a day, no salary.
You won’t get a better opportunity in your situation.
I get visits from important people men when the house is finished.
I expect, it is held to a high standard.
Is that understood?
It will be OK. They never will looking for you on the heath.
Well, Bondo. I stand here as someone else idiot and wasting the best season.
It’s now that the cheeks are flaring.
Bear portraits are high fashion i whole Nordeurope, mr. de Schinkel.
Where is my cousin?
She is out lunging her horse.
She does nothing but to run around with the damn horse.
There is a Captain Kahlen who is in the process of building a house on the moor.
“King’s House” he calls it.
You said no more crazies would come.
That it was a matter of time, before we could buy it all.
Bald ones?
Yes. Ludwig Kahlen.
Find out who he is.
Of course.
I have had better stowage in the army.
If you had bought a cow, had we had thicker milk.
If I have to keep the house, do i need a cow
I have made a detailed account above my budget out here.
If a cow was needed, had there been a cow.
It does not get better.
Everything must be in neat, small rows.
The floor must be dust-free, the food lie perfectly in the middle of the plate.
He behaves like a fine gentleman, but his clothes are worn, and his hands are rough.
He’s strange.
The priest says we can trust him.
We can’t trust anyone.
We will never get away from here without Iøn.
We stay here just one season. Just until they are not looking for us anymore.
One season at Kongenshus.
Then we head towards the coast. I want to see the sea.
I want to see the sea.
Where are you going?
Out to our strange gentleman. He shouldn’t go out there alone.
They will need marl.
We collect clay out by the sea.
The heather must be burned, the soil must be fertilized.
It takes at least half a year, before anything can be cultivated.
May I ask, what are you planning to grow?
You are welcome to ask.
But you get no answer.
(chickens cluck)
Come here!
Thanks for the damn hen, bings!
What happens?
It’s the outlaws.
What the hell are you guys doing?
Now all outlaws know, that they can just come here and steal.
Why did you let her go?
You must not get too close the kind of. The devil watches over them.
You saw for yourself how dark she was.
Shut up. She is a beggar child.
They pick them up south. Next time you stop her.
We shall have no curse on us. You can stop her yourself.
Pack your things. You are done here.
(bell rings)
You are doing something amazing.
You can already feel life out here.
Johannes. Isn’t that Preisler?
Johannes. please to look after my horse in the barn.
Captain Kahlen?
Major Preisler. I’m here on behalf of by Frederik de Schinkel of Hald.
Owner of 130 farms and the county judge of the region.
Sir. de Schinkel has asked me to invite you for dinner at the estate tonight.
It would be an honor for me.
I hope you have some other clothes.
I have my uniform.
One of Mr. de Schinkel’s tenant farmers ran away recently.
Rumor has it, he is still here in the area.
Johannes Eriksen and his wife. Does that tell you anything?
I have the men you see here.
Schinkel. Is he the one they ran away from?
The most important man here in the area? The man i should stay friends with?
My uncle loved dogs. He got written into his will, that Frederik was not allowed to remove a single dog portrait.
I think he was happier for his dogs than his own children.
Edel Helene Leising, Frederik’s cousin.
Captain Ludvig Kahlen.
Are you related to the Norwegian Count Leising?
That is my dad. They might know much to the Norwegian nobility?
No… Only what everyone knows. That your father is a close friend of the king.
Here he is.
Ludvig Kahlen. Welcome to Hald Gods.
National judge Schinkel…
De Schinkel.
My father’s name was Schinkel, but I have changed it to de Schinkel.
De Schinkel, sorry.
From gardener to decorated captain is quite an achievement.
It also took me 25 years.
25 years. Do you know how long does it take a noble to become a captain?
Six months.
You must have hated those powder puffs, who advanced before you, just because they had the real blood in the veins.
Those are the rules.
Said by a real soldier.
So… you want to try farming the heath?
I want to build the king’s first colony out there.
The heath is God’s nature in all its splendor. Why castrate a wild animal?
Didn’t God just put man on earth to create civilization?
So we’re not civilized out here?
God has nothing to do with civilization to do. God is chaos. Life is chaos.
I do not agree.
You fought in the Silesian Wars. Was it civilized?
No, war is chaos.
But the winner is the one who can figure out how to control chaos.
What do you think of my fiancé? Isn’t she beautiful to look at?
Are we engaged? I can not remember, I have said yes, Frederik.
As if it wasn’t settled.
Her father begged me to to take her. Not that I’m complaining.
Her family wants my fortune, but I drew the longest straw.
Getting into the noble circles is invaluable. That’s what my father said.
Your father was right.
He created this from nothing.
Two cows and a plough.
Now he just lies and rots in the ground.
Life is chaos, Ludvig.
Cunt, dick, shit, blood, chaos.
We can’t control shit.
It is only when we recognize that that we can enjoy our insignificant lives.
Everything you’ve said since we set us to the table, it has been ridiculous.
Pardon. My cousin needs a lesson in civilized behavior.
Why am I here?
You are here because you have built on my land without permission.
Your land?
Yes, de Schinkel’s Jordan.
The heath belongs to the king. All uncultivated land belongs to the king.
Are you a little bit deaf? This is my land.
Do you have a land registry card?
I can’t bear to find it.
Then we have to get a surveyor up here…
Or we can ask the county judge.
The national judge judges, it is good enough.
We have nothing more to talk about. Miss Edel…
Your mother was a kitchen maid Count Raven’s estate, wasn’t she?
He was a friend of the family.
A God-given scapegoat who took for himself of all resorting to a lap, and you are as cheated out of his nose.
It’s almost creepy.
He was the one who sent you into the army?
My father did with his bastards.
My little half-brothers with longing eyes and soil under the nails.
And now the bastard wants to be a big man out on the heath.
What do you get if you succeed? And gods?
En fin title? “From” Bald ones?
What is it?
A contract.
You try your luck on Mr. de Schinkel’s land.
He will help you with men, provisions and materials.
In return, you pay 50% of your future income.
Should colonists come, stay the tenant farmers of Mr. de Schinkel.
No thank you.
I would strongly advise you to accept the offer.
It is the king’s land. I work for the king.
Vovvov.
There are not many who dare to say Frederik opposed in that way.
See you again, Captain?
I don’t see how.
There is a harvest festival in a month. All the powder puffs are coming.
First Sunday in September.
I don’t think I’m invited.
You can come as my guest. I can invite whoever I want.
Here. So you don’t forget me in the meantime.
Why is no one working? Where are the men?
Major Preisler knocked on my door and told me to get out of here immediately and offer your men double wages on one of de Schinkel’s farms.
And you did that without hesitation?
I have been riding all night. Will you stop shooting the messenger?
You couldn’t know that it was his land.
We are not finding any new workers. No one dares to go up against Schinkel.
Has everyone gone mad? I have the king’s stamp on, I must be here.
I have the law on my side.
It does not matter.
Does Frederik Schinkel want something, he keeps going until he gets it.
He’s all alone out there now. He has didn’t even get the heather burned off.
He can have a maximum of 100 Riksdalers remaining of his captain’s pension.
100 Riksdalers? That is nothing.
No. He never gets that land ready.
And when winter comes, then he signs.
“Dear captain. Have fun with that build a colony on the heath without men.
Here’s a little gift, that can create a little joy in everyday life.
Frederik de Schinkel.”
It can be decorated outside by the hens.
I know where we can get men.
So! Come here!
Let me go, dammit!
What’s your name, thief?
Anmai Mus, for found.
How old are you?
To.
No you are not.
So I’m 35.
I don’t know, damn it.
Where are the taters you travel around with? Where have they camped?
Do you remember this one?
Tomorrow morning you show me Where they are. Are you following?
They kill me.
That’s not my problem.
Poor little Anmai Mouse. She only had a short and hard life.
She had not eaten for 11 days, and hunger drove her to theft.
Her mother and father would not have her and sold her to the lawless.
Stop. I don’t want to listen to it.
(whistle)
No! No!
No, no, no, let me go!
Inept blackout. You will get your punishment later.
What do you want here, bings?
I have work for you all.
10 rigsdalers for going into the field until autumn.
You have no mark.
Today.
Today!
A good soldier knows well that the law forbids our kind to work.
You can go to jail for that.
Do we have a deal?
20 Riksdalers. And I want that one too.
Your medal. I’ve always wanted to be a general.
You can’t get that. And I am not general. I’m the captain.
Salute General Hector!
Do you remember when we met the Devil? out here on the heath?
In the guise of a young boy. We were excited!
Now he’s the one who spanks, for now the general is here!
Now the general is here!
Now working the general and the devil…
Be sure to keep the fire going under control.
Hey! A penny for a night?
No, no… so.
Take the stick, bings.
(latter)
When you have taken the wand, are you part of her clan.
You can get her for five reigsdaler. Then we get rid of that blackout.
We are not in the same clan. Are you following?
Freshly shot game for the harvest festival. I shot two.
You all get to taste. You must all live well.
But first of all, then I must live.
Have you seen the animals? I shot two.
Unfortunately, I have worrying news.
Kahlen has hired a group of taters to work for themselves.
But Preisler has also discovered something else.
Three wagon loads as close to the shore as you can find it. And it must be whitler.
It must be whiting.
Sir. de Schinkel was happy with it.
Then he can put it on himself.
Mine should be more simple. Honorable, but still feminine.
They mean something a military man would appreciate?
You should hold on far away from Schinkel.
Everyone, who is something, is coming tonight.
Everyone, is there anything?
Businessmen. Folks, I’m going to trade with.
Apparently it’s not the only one reason you go there.
Don’t meddle with mine personal matters. You are a housekeeper.
Then it’s as good as it gets. The nice people must accept you as you are.
But you must remember to hide that stitching in the crease.
Thank God you’re here. I could hardly recognize you.
Ludvig Kahlen.
Captain. Heat conditions.
De Schinkel.
Glad you came. But you can don’t be here with the lousy wig.
I can’t offer it to my other guests.
There are no lice in my wig.
I can see it is tingling and crawling.
Lise has brought a wig, that you can borrow.
Com. Immediately.
And…
Like that. Then you are as good as new.
Enjoy the party.
Follow me, sir. The lady is waiting for you.
Miss Edel.
Captivating
It was a gift from your cousin.
He is a spoiled child.
Trying desperately to impress his father’s friends.
He drinks from morning to night and boasts all the female tyents, he has ridden to.
It’s like he thinks I’ll find the amusing or attractive.
I have to go.
I have to get out of here.
What does your father say?
He only thinks about the money.
He has forbidden me to go home.
I will stay here over the winter and try to see the good in Frederik.
He wants us married within a year.
Unless I can introduce him for a better alternative.
Can I do that?
A man who gets the king’s high wish to come true, with that title and reward, that comes with it.
He might become worthy of to marry you.
If that’s what you’re asking.
Otherwise I thought I was obvious.
They haven’t had many incoming calls conversations with women. Have you?
This is the longest conversation, I have had. Correct.
And you will succeed to build your colony out there?
And.
(chorus)
I apologize for the interruption, but there is a surprise, and I can’t wait any longer. It is something quite special.
This farmer ran away in the spring.
I treated him and his wife with respect, even with love.
As I treat all my people.
And he thanked me by to run his way.
He hid with Ludvig Kahlen out on the heath, –
But enough about that. It’s a long story.
(chorus)
If you interfere and legal bondeafstraffelse, you yourself are considered who breaks the law.
Do not worry. The water is not not nearly as hot as it looks.
(John screams)
One more time for the beautiful girls.
(John screams)
One more time for the beautiful girls.
(John complains)
It’s a good idea to stop now.
The people are not with you.
No. Do it one more time for the beautiful girls.
Frederick! Now that’s enough.
Do it one more time now! Then do it for the beautiful girls!
You killed him.
I have every right to to punish my own serfs.
No one could know he would perish. What do you say, Bondo?
Yes, that’s right. It was an accident.
So, the farmer must have been delicately designed or…
Let him be. He is mine.
Not anymore. According to the law, he belongs to God now.
So take him.
Ludwig. I know, that you use taters as labor.
You must not house illegal taters. You are ordered to send them away.
Aren’t the outlaws gone? tomorrow morning, then we remove them by force… and you too.
I’ll see through that, if you sign our contract.
I am sorry.
You didn’t hit me like a man who was afraid of something.
We had a deal. Otherwise I can’t get the ground ready.
There is no reason for you to travel. You can work at night.
Are you an idiot? There is a boiled man in your field.
We sure as hell don’t want to die for your heating project.
What do we do?
You won’t make it through the winter without money or men.
I don’t need men. I can do it myself.
The land will be cultivated in the spring.
And what about Schinkel?
Schinkel takes trips between the maids.
He always has one or two guards with him, so you don’t run away.
When Johannes and I got married, he became enraged.
And now he has killed him.
Schinkel doesn’t stop, before he has won.
Where do you intend to go?
As far away as I can get.
I would like to ask you to stay.
I can’t both cultivate the fields and keep the house.
I need you.
Keep the house?
My husband is dead and you are afraid if the floor is not swept, or if everything is perfect, as usual!
I can pay you.
With what?
You have no more money.
When the king hears…
Stop talking about the king. You’ve never met him.
You’ll never get to that. He doesn’t even know you exist.
What is Schinkel afraid of?
what happens to him if colonies come out here?
Then he loses his power. He becomes an insignificant little man.
I have to do three men’s work, so I have to have double rent.
And a fifth of the harvest.
A tenth.
And I want to know what you intend to grow.
What is it?
Potatoes.
They grow them in Germany and France. They are sailing creatures.
They can withstand almost anything. They just must not get frost.
My mother was a kitchen maid. On an estate.
She was in the same situation as you. With her master.
You are the son of a landowner?
He was my father, yes. But I was not his son.
(clink)
Damned shit bowl!
What are you doing here?
I’ve run away from those stupid pigs.
I don’t want to be sold.
Come on.
You have to find the others again. You can’t be here.
I can’t take care of a child. We don’t even have food for ourselves.
Damned thief, damned thief.
You have stolen my knife, and tomorrow at seven you lose your life.
A fool! Take it, dear father.
It eats children, you idiot.
No, it does not.
It is much more afraid of you, than you are for it. Came.
Kitchen, look! I’m holding a fool!
I don’t understand your tater words, Anmai Go.
Madrum… It comes from Latin.
It is a Rotvæl word for mother.
Madrum, Gud-bings and bette papa.
Yes that’s fine. Then we work.
(thunder)
But the miller took little Carl Andersen and threw him into the lake.
And then everyone knew that the miller drowned children every night.
Why does no one do anything about the pig?
It’s coming. Want to hear more?
Yes, damn it. What a pig!
You have to stop that banter.
Why didn’t he just fly in to the children if he could fly?
The miller himself had four children.
(Anmai Mus hoster)
You should drink it. Your lungs must rest.
Her body can’t fight back. She needs food.
Porridge and water are not enough.
That’s what we have.
We have the potatoes.
We don’t touch them.
We have one goat left. We must survive on the milk all winter.
There are 20 sacks of potatoes…
We don’t touch them!
Edel’s father says she’s babbling about Ludvig Kahlen in his letters home.
Does she care about him?
She is a realist. She would never choose a moor farmer –
rather than the most wealthy man in the area. Never.
No, she wouldn’t.
She’s smarter than that. So what does she know that we don’t?
So, he got a shipment all the way from Germany.
Maybe it’s potatoes.
Potatoes?
If you don’t say that they can grow in almost any type of soil?
Anmai Mouse, go in and rest.
(bell rings)
Merry Christmas, Ludvig.
You hoped it was Edel.
What are you doing here, Schinkel?
De Schinkel, Ludvig. The Schinkel.
Are you still here? You just come home when you get tired of the heat.
You will always be my little Ann Barbara.
I actually came in good faith.
Leftovers from Christmas dinner. There is both pork and cake.
You probably have to gnaw a little to get the meat off the bones.
Get into the heat. I have good news.
I have not been fair.
You come out here on the heath with your big dream.
Then I just sit up there on the property and spoils it all for you.
Aren’t you curious?
It’s money.
Yes please. It is 2000 Riksdalers.
That’s enough to build two colonies. Hire as many men as you want.
You can live like a king.
I will not work for you.
You don’t have to work for anyone. Just go somewhere else and cultivate the heath.
As long as it’s far away, the two of us will be free to stare at each other.
Start over somewhere else.
Then the wallet is yours.
Then we have an agreement.
I want to go home to my warm fireplace.
One more thing. Of course you must report to the Interest Chamber, –
that this is my land and always has been.
Ludwig.
Ludwig.
That goat is worth a hundred times more than a fucking sack of potatoes.
What if the harvest fails? Ludvig, won’t you… Ludvig!
I know it’s Mysling.
I can’t anymore hear her out there.
Tell the story again. What happens, when the colonists come, bette papa?
When the colonists come, then we can cultivate the whole moor, and then comes the king and visit us.
Overbingsen.
Yes. Then comes the overbing and visit us.
And then there are fireplaces in all rooms, we get closed windows…
And you get all the food you can eat.
And we get animals out in the barn.
As many animals, which Noah had on his ark.
(door opens)
I have given my blanket to Anmai Mus.
I just need the heat.
I know your heart belongs another. Mine does too.
Are there more Mussels?
When are they coming up?
In two or three months.
And then there will be many more of them. Hundreds of sacks.
Damn it, hundreds?
One more.
Frost!
Carpets are not enough. Take the heather! Take the heather!
(thunder)
(screams)
Bette far, and rydling!
Bette far, and rydling!
A clearing, come on!
And rider, bette far!
And it was you there found it, Anmai Mouse.
And you were the one who found it.
“Cultivated on the heath. L. Kahlen.”
Are you aware of what that means? It has taken five decades.
you behave as if he invented the wheel.
It took a whole year to grow one sack.
80 sacks according to this.
His Majesty the King.
Your Majesty.
We have received a shipment of potatoes from the Jutland heath.
It is correct…
It is a big day for Denmark.
Get some colonists out there and worry to send an appropriate reward.
What?
Miss, the captain has succeeded to grow potatoes on the heath.
Where did you hear that?
Bondos kammerpige.
They made him a royal surveyor. 50 colonists come from Germany.
I never doubted. Never. Neither has God.
Speaking of Our Lord, then I leave you for a time.
Tomorrow I go to Odense.
You have your head in a bucket there.
And to Copenhagen to collect money into the first church on the moor.
Cheers! Pancakes!
Cheers.
Cheers.
Lavmos…
… peat is often stingy…
Nutritious. Stingy, that’s something else entirely.
Nutritious.
Louis.
Are you Ludvig Kahlen?
Welcome to Kongenshus.
You who stand here today, will go down in history as the king’s first colonists on the Danish heath.
The building materials for your houses on the way.
You can camp in the valley sheltered from the wind and recover from the journey.
We have bread and meat for everyone.
What is she doing here?
She works here. She helps with the animals and the surveying.
Anmai Go, order.
No!
Her kind bring death and misfortune. If we’re going to stay, she’s got to go.
I make sure she doesn’t come near wives and children. She stays at the house.
You won’t see her again.
Let time pass and they will discover that you are not at all dangerous.
It’s like I stink of stench.
It is not you, there is something wrong with.
They are afraid of you, although they should know better.
Just like you once was afraid of small beetles.
I think you said that you don’t stink.
Stop teasing. You’re bad at it.
There’s someone in here that reeks of stench.
You stink of horse piss!
What did you say?
I have never heard… That’s the worst thing I’ve heard!
Two steps to the right. There!
And then you write 220 in this column.
A total, total and a circle.
Doesn’t the wig guy get angry about, that we are so close to his castle?
Maybe, but he decides no longer here.
Dear Frederik. You can easily remain an important piece out here, –
even though colonists have arrived.
But… Ludvig Kahlen is royal surveyor now.
If you fight him, then you risk everything.
You have to to make peace with him.
Then say you want to get married with me right now.
What is holding you back? You say, that I become an important piece.
So say yes.
Say yes.
Do not you think, that I know about your plan, what?
You probably already spread your legs for him.
Let go of me. Let go of me. Let go of me!
Came. Hit me again.
Hit me again.
(roars)
Mister…
What are you doing?
What is it?
No no!
Stop! Stop, stop!
Stop, Frederik! (the maid screams)
You are crazy. You are crazy.
Kahlen and his potato Germans gotta get off my heat, Bondo.
He has to go.
This is the way. There is plenty of food in there.
(horsehair)
What happens?
I think I dreamed something.
(horsehair)
Stay here.
(horsehair)
Calm, calm… calm.
Go inside and lock the doors.
And…
(wolf howl and scream)
(shouts and screams)
A clean cut. It wasn’t the wolves.
They must have smelled the blood.
What’s going on? Half of our animals are dead. Whos behind?
Peter?
Peter!
Peter.
Being!
Being!
What kind of horse is that?
You have beaten two innocent civilians killed.
I hope you have strong evidence for such a crazy claim.
But I’m just a national judge.
They were under the king’s protection.
I think you’ve had visitors by some highway robbers.
They have ravaged the area.
Once they have tasted blood, then they come again, and they come again.
And they come again.
Stay away from the heath.
Is that understood?
Chaos, Ludvig. You can make plans, as crazy as you want.
Life is chaos. Why is it so hard for you to accept?
Can I have a glass of water, please?
You can do it. The well is right out there.
What?
Ann Barbara.
We want to be alone.
Of course.
I thought she was a housekeeper.
So is she.
They should not have come.
I know, who killed the colonists.
Major Preisler and his friend Rømer came with four men in chains.
They must have taken them from the prison.
Are they still at the estate?
No.
They don’t stop here. Is there somewhere else they could be?
Where can they hide?
Frederik’s hunting lodge.
What are you going to do?
It’s best you go back. Now.
Come on.
See you.
I know who killed Peter and Vera. And I know where they are.
We would never have come if we knew They were at war with a landowner.
You should have said that.
It’s the king’s land.
We have the law on our side.
The assailants are coming back. Do you understand? We have to stop them.
Have any of you been in the army?
None of us lift a finger, before you send the devil girl away.
She has nothing to do with this.
We don’t want to listen to it, Kahlen!
We said she brought misfortune. Now two of our people are dead!
Send her away or we leave.
And then you can forget everything about your colony.
What are you saying?
We can’t just send her away. She is our child!
Then let them travel.
Now hold it.
I have no choice.
Yes, you have.
But it all has to add up Ludvig Kahlen’s big plan.
You just want your noble title, so you can mingle with the nice people.
What do you want me to do?
I have no choice.
It is a monastery in Odense, where they take in homeless children.
She gets food and a place to sleep. But she will work for a living.
You will be happy there, where are you going.
There are many other children.
So…
And…
You are going to have a good life.
You have learned to read. You know all about how to care for animals.
Now you must be strong.
So… Drive.
Bette far! Bette far!
How long are we going to stay in this hole?
Until the work is done.
12 years in a penitentiary, and he calls this a hole?
I go in and rest. We ride in an hour. Get your weapons ready.
(horse neigh and sound of horse hooves)
What the hell is going on?
The Germans attacked us. I was the only one who got away.
Those damn potato farmers!
It was all done with military precision. Led by Kahlen.
And you’re standing here drinking! You should stay and fight, you coward!
Give me new men, then I’ll fix him.
Do it! What are you waiting for?
Did you see who killed Rømer?
Kahlen.
He has murdered a former officer in cold blood, and we have a witness.
The Germans have told what has happened. And where were you last night.
Did you collect money for the church?
They also said, that you have sent Anmai Mus away.
Where is Ann Barbara?
There is a letter.
If you can prove that Kahlen killed an officer…
We can. Major Preisler saw it with his own eyes.
We would like to help you, Schinkel.
De Schinkel.
No landowner wants, that Kahlen builds his colony.
But there is one thing that surprises us all a little.
It is the distribution of income, as you suggest.
This is my land. It’s only fair that I get the majority.
It’s not your land, Schinkel.
You know that.
De Schinkel.
And if it goes as it should, it can You get a tenth like the rest of us.
You sit and insult me in my own home.
You can forget about it. Forget it!
Sir. de Schinkel accepts your conditions.
He just needs to sleep on it. But we have an agreement.
Damn it!
He has killed an officer.
He succeeds in uniting Central Jutland most powerful landowners.
Men who usually hate each other like the plague, in a common front!
Against us! I’m not taking the fall for him. I damn well don’t.
We agreed that Kahlen did not have a format for the task.
Perhaps we should investigate what has happened.
His Majesty was impressed, how far Kahlen had come.
His Majesty knows nothing about, who is kahlen you idiot.
After all, he’s cranky around the clock.
He doesn’t care who there is on the heath, as long as there is someone.
If we say yes to the landowners proposal, we sentence Kahlen to death.
Without a trial, without hearing his side of the story.
You still haven’t got it.
When the king asks, then nothing has changed.
The colony is still being built. Everything is going according to plan.
We cannot sentence a man to death, that never existed.
(a fly flutters)
(shot)
(horse neigh and shout)
You are staying illegally on Frederik de Schinkel’s land!
You must leave the area immediately and sign up for Hald Gods.
You have until tonight to pack.
Preisler!
Get out of here! The colony is under the king’s protection.
Not anymore. The earth belongs now Mr. de Schinkel and his partners.
The deed is signed and sealed of the King’s Interest Chamber.
In God’s name, that’s enough!
I must ask you to disappear.
Get out of the way, Eklund. Go home.
You have none powers here, Preisler.
You are hired by a private landowner.
What will the authorities say to that you are a murderer?
Anton, don’t.
That you rode in with a bunch of criminals and murdered innocent people.
Shut up, Anton. Go home.
The interest rate chamber may not think so on a bunch of German peasants, but I am a man of God. And I guarantee…
Stop!
De Schinkel has taken over Royal house. Make room.
They have arrested Ludvig Kahlen. De Schinkel has taken over Kongenshus.
Shut up! Let me out!
Don’t go out to him, miss. It will only make it worse for him.
It’s crazy that it’s here, we are finished, Ludvig.
It is completely unnecessary.
Say it’s my land that it has always been my land, –
then I’ll let you live.
I promise.
It is the king’s land.
(Kahlen complains)
Tell them they can begin to boil the water.
High school.
Have you been hired here again?
The Lord has asked for a glass liqueur out. Will you make it happen?
What are you doing here?
(Kahlen screams)
Let it cool down a bit.
Sir, Miss Edel wishes to see you in your chamber.
Now she wants to see me on my chamber.
No thanks. I will be here.
The miss wants to negotiate the conditions of an engagement.
You marry me and I spare Kahlen’s life. Is that how it is?
And.
That is my only condition.
You are such a deceitful goose, and one cannot trust a word, –
but if you show me right now, that you mean what you say, –
then I promise I’ll let him out, and then the court must decide his fate.
Does it show you?
Now hold it. You know what I mean.
Just there on the floor?
Or should we take the bed?
We can do whatever you want. We can also do both.
Oh…
I guess I just got it one glass of wine too much.
(Frederik coughs)
Tel…
Ann Barbara…
You shouldn’t be here.
Out with you! Guard!
You will be hanged for this, you sow!
No, don’t…
It is for Johannes.
(there is a knock on the door)
(cry)
(bell chimes and shouts)
The Lord is dead.
Ann Barbara has killed him.
Sorry, it took some time.
I had to explain to the Interest Chamber, how it all came together.
The Germans have left, Ludvig.
Miss Edel has gone home to his family in Norway.
You can keep the Royal Palace. But the gods must know, –
if they ever send bids for new colonists.
Ann Barbara?
We don’t see her again.
She sits in Aalborg for life.
No visits. No chance of getting out.
Have you changed the water? Then go in and change the water!
I need a strong worker in the house.
One, who is good with animals, and who has learned to write numbers in a surveyor’s book.
You do not know, where can i find one like that right?
I shouldn’t have sent you away.
I promise, that I will never disappoint you again.
I promise, that I will always take care of you.
When will she come back?
She’s not coming back.
She is happy where she is now.
I think she lives on the beach in a small house by the sea, which she has always talked about.
If God-bings are in Heaven, and the Germans have gone away, –
then there’s only you and me left, bette far.
But we can also do it ourselves, the two of us. Does not?
41… 18.
16…
I don’t think it will rain. We can let the goats out.
(there is a knock on the door)
Hello. Do you need to have it repaired the windows or replaced something?
No. We don’t need anything.
What about knives that need to be sharpened?
We need five new windows, and then we have a box of knives, –
and the barn must be closed for winter, and then the well needs new stones.
She’s a quant dill, huh?
Stop.
And you are a qvant bings.
You are tater?
Anmai Go.
Yes, further down… yes.
Yes, move your fingers. Yes.
Ludvig von Kahlen, we hand you over this official decree to the effect, that you as agreed with the Interest Chamber receives the title of lieutenant baron with land use rights and 20 years of tax exemption.
Your appanage will take effect, when the colony is completed.
Yes, it is 2000 Riksdaler annually.
Colonies?
Yes. We send bids after 400 colonists this spring.
They’ll have enough to look after.
May we say congratulations, from Kahlen?
It is a huge achievement.
(door opens)
Then I finally got them sent off. I’ve never seen two grown men – be so engrossed of a potato plant. Snaps!
How are the hemorrhoids?
I don’t talk about them anymore.
People don’t understand anyway the pain i’m going through.
You have received another rejection to have Ann Barbara’s sentence shortened.
Unfortunately, I have more bad news.
The female prisoners from Aalborg must transferred to Slaveriet in Copenhagen.
Ann Barbara too.
You know as well as I do what slavery means.
Those poor things don’t live long.
I’m sorry to have to pass it on to you.
Could you bring the bottle for the trip home?
Things rarely go our way had imagined them, Ludvig.
(whistle)
Thank you for everything, dear father.
(horse neigh and sound of horse hooves)
