Land of Mine

At the tail end of World War 2, the German forces that once occupied Denmark are now prisoners of war. However, before they can return home they are tasked with sweeping the Danish West Coast and removing the approximate two million land mines hidden under the sand. More than 2000 soldiers were employed and nearly half of them lost their lives or limbs. Writer and director Martin Zandvliet focuses on just fourteen of these ill-equipped and frightened young boys as they are forced to pay for the sins of their war-torn country.

Land of Mine is heartbreakingly powerful, bolstered by a terrific young cast and beautifully shot by Camilla Hjelm. Confined predominantly to the short stretch of coastline where the boys are interned, Zandvliet paints an idyllic picture of the seaside, the way the wind sends ripples of sand flying over the dunes or the red sun slowly setting just over the ocean. Yet on the periphery of these images are the scars of war, threatening to rise to the surface at any moment with a shocking ferocity.

The young German soldiers spend their days crawling across the sand, digging for the mines that lie just underneath. Zandvliet handles the suspense of these scenes with aplomb, the frayed nerves and shaking hands of the soldiers creating a tension that is at times insurmountable. There is an edge to proceedings with the knowledge that the boys are walking a constant tightrope between life and death. Yet when a mine does go off, Zandvliet handles the aftermath, the utter confusion and trauma of the survivors, with a compelling humanity as we are reminded that these are just children.

The fourteen soldiers are lead by Danish Sgt. Carl Rasmussen, terrifically portrayed by Roland Møller, a man with a barely restrained fury towards the German forces who occupied his country. Believing he was to receive experienced men, Rasmussen is instead confronted with the youth and relative innocence of these boys and it is the complicated relationship that develops between them as he watches them risk their life each day that forms the emotional core of the film.

Rasmussen’s initial cruelty towards the young men is matched only by the cruelty of the Danish and Allied forces who refuse to send them home. Here Zandvliet exposes not only the cruelty on both sides of the divide but also the violence and injustices of war that persist even after the war is won. Nothing ends cleanly or quietly and it is a complex and measured depiction of an increasingly complex period in time, mixed with moments of compassion and all too human understanding.

Land of Mine 
In cinemas 30 March 2017
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