After the first minute of “The Promised Land,” Danish director Nikolaj Arcel’s period epic set in 18th-century Denmark, we know two things. We know “the heath cannot be tamed” because the opening ...

Mikkelsen stars as an 18th century settler facing an obstacle course of woes in this bleak period drama from Nikolaj Arcel. Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Venice Film ...

The Promised Land also makes some more obscure biblical details memorable, such as when Oholiab (Ash Kahn)—a specialist in ...

A commoner-turned-captain is locked in a grisly land battle with a dastardly nobleman in Nikolaj Arcel's entertaining, broad-brush epic, lent weight by its ever-reliable star. Also hard and rugged and ...

The Danish director and star of the Oscar-nominated 'A Royal Affair' reteam on this Nordic Western about a low-born military man determined to cultivate the wild Jutland heath against daunting odds.

Mads Mikkelsen delivers a magnificent performance that brings life to a grim historical epic set in a familiarly harsh world. The film explores the flaws and complexities of its real-life protagonist, ...

Mads Mikkelsen stars as a soldier with little money but big ideas who gets royal approval to try to conquer a vast shrubby expanse. By Manohla Dargis When you purchase a ticket for an independently ...

Nikolaj Arcel’s “The Promised Land” is aptly titled. Adapted from the 2020 novel “The Captain and Ann Barbara,” by Ida Jessen, the land itself — the untamed heath of Jutland, the peninsula that makes ...