There is a sense of audacity in telling a World War II story with even a hint of German sympathy. Historical mythologies have encrusted themselves so feverishly to the point where its nearly impossible to separate fighting for Hitler from Hitler himself. Land of Mine, a Danish film from director Martin Zandvliet, tells the story of teenaged German POWs in Denmark after the end of the war. With a wide swath of Denmark’s western coast infested with Nazi landmines, the Danish military has enlisted these German boys to comb the beaches and diffuse the hundreds of thousands of bombs in the sand. Zandvliet’s film follows a small unit led by a fiercely patriotic Danish sergeant (Roland Møller) whose tyrannic reign over the boys softens when he sees their vulnerability. Land of Mine is an incredibly intense films, which calls to mind Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker in its ability to create buckling suspense in the very presence of explosives. With a collection of strong performances, led by Møller, Mine is a gripping wartime tale, from an unfamiliar perspective. There are times when Zandvliet’s film wants it both ways – to be a gritty meditation on the horrors of war while also providing the audience with a story of the better angels of our nature. Land of Mine works best when its focused on the basic functions of bomb defusing, creating a tense wilderness of suspense which probably played a hand in garnering its Best Foreign Language Oscar nomination.

 

Directed by Martin Zandvliet