Noutions
Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .
MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
manayupa
Harmless, innocent Germans caught in the midst of this bad bad war. Lost, misunderstood and mistreated. Poor things. What a touching story to tell. Technical masterpiece with brilliant actor play I must admit, but a clear attempt to clean wash Germans. The same Germans repeatedly responsible for world conflicts, who exterminated by burning and starving to death children much younger than these hobbledehoys by the thousands. This nation deserves no consolation, nor any kind of compassion. Similarly a picture suggesting that Denmark actually did something during 2nd World War. They've practically surrendered their country to Germans with not one gun shot. Poles defended each inch of their country with their blood, and with no support from any of European countries watching from the distance. Later they've continued to fight Germans supporting other countries all over Europe, even as far as Africa. For which effort btw. Great Britain and USA gave them out to Russians communists on a silver platter. It seems to me that Danes got themselves a pretty good deal. Not many other countries that didn't lift a finger to stop Germans got themselves leftovers from their army to clean up. It's just a funny little story of children playing war far from the real horrors in Europe.
valleyjohn
Not only was this right up my street it was one of the best films I have seen this year. Nominated at the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year this is the story of a group of young German soldiers held as prisoners at the end of the war , who are ordered to dig up and disarm all of the Nazi land mines remaining on the west coast of Denmark. A Danish sergeant watches over the effort as the untrained soldiers attempt to complete their extremely dangerous punishment.
It's probably not the best description to describe what I felt about this film but I really was was blown away.
I has no idea about this part of World war II history and that the Germans planted over 1.2 million mines because they though the allies would land via Denmark and not France.
This is beautifully written and filmed by Director Pieter Zandvliet and the acting from the group of young German actors is stunning.
Sometimes moments of silence says more than words can and the silent moments say everything in this film wether it be when they are unarming the mines or when they are in fear of the sergeant.
It's a very sad story that I'm sure the Danes are not proud of but I'm so glad it was told with such expertise.
Ian
(Flash Review)What could be worse than a long prison term? Here's one punishment; be forced to sweep vast beaches to uncover and disarm live mines post WWII. This is one of the rare films that attempts to make you feel compassion for Germans soon after WWII. As the film tells the true story of German POVs, many of them young boys in this film, that are forced to uncover thousands of mines that the German's buried in Denmark's beaches. These young soldiers are led by a Danish Sargent who hates all NAZI German soldier's guts. He teaches the boys how to dismantle the mines, map and count the mines and then enforce the objective. Being young and stupid boy soldiers, not the typical easy to hate NAZI commander type men, he does grow a bit of a heart for them. The film's focus was around the Sargent and the young POV's, their objective and of course the occasional accident. Very raw at times, it does scratch at your emotions but not as much as I'd imagine from such a hellish objective. Great cinematography with saturated and muted colors help drive the point home about many facets of humanity during a terrible and turbulent period in the world.
Hellmant
'LAND OF MINE': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five) A Danish-German war film (based on actual events) about teenage German prisoners of war, that were forced to clear mines from postwar Denmark (shortly after the end of World War II). The film has received nearly unanimous rave reviews from critics, and it's won (or been nominated for) multiple prestigious awards; including a 2017 Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie was written and directed by Martin Zandvliet, and it stars Roland Moller. I agree with all of it's critical acclaim, it's an amazing film!Historians estimate that following the end of World War II (in Europe), 2,000 captured German soldiers were forced to remove mines, with their bare hands, from former warzones. Many of these prisoners of war were teenagers, and they were also extremely inexperienced. It's also estimated that nearly half of them were killed, or severely wounded, by the mines. This film tells the story of a small group of those teenage German prisoners, in Denmark. It focuses on their relationship with their commanding Danish sergeant (Moller), who at first hates the boys and then grows sympathetic towards them.The movie is extremely emotional and involving. Only the least empathetic viewer could not feel something for these boys, that were forced to go through this unbelievably horrendous experience. The relationship they have with their enemy sergeant is also extremely touching and powerful. By focusing on a part of World War II history that's rarely covered (in films at least), the movie also seems original and surprisingly educational. It's a very moving story about forgiveness, in the harshest of circumstances, as well. I think it's a masterpiece that everyone should see. I'd almost give it a perfect rating, but I'm slightly hesitant to for some reason.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/hAV3iy1JkJ8
