It was an absolute treat to go to the Redlands Cinema Classics this week. The featured film this week was “Promised Land” in Danish, and I am Danish. So, I was looking forward to hearing my mother tongue spoken in a theater in Redlands.
Mads Mikkelsen, left, and Michael Christiansen during filming of “The Promised Land” last year. Photo courtesy by Michael Christiansen
The decision of subtitles as opposed to dubbed speech is one of the perks for a dual citizen watching the Redlands Cinema Classics.
Another perk was that the world-famous movie star, Mads Mikkelsen, was the lead actor playing the captain.
And as if that was not enough, my cousin worked as an extra.
“Are there any Danes here at the audience?” asked Annette Weis, the coordinator of the Redlands Cinema Classics, in her introduction.
There were a few hands going up beside me and my family.
“How many of you knew about Capt. Ludvig Kahlen?” she asked.
Silence.
The movie is based on true events, a brutal time in rural Denmark we were about to learn.
Capt. Kahlen went through horrific trials in 1755 trying to impress the king by building a colony on the heath, a large harsh uninhabitable land.
The neighboring magistrate, Frederik De Schinkel, was the entitled sadist trying to put a stop to Kahlen’s plans.
I brought my family and friends along to the movie. And my eyes were peeled from the start.
My cousin Michael Christiansen told me to look for two peasants carrying wooden planks.
And there he was in the background not even 10 minutes into the movie.
“Some years ago, I got interested in working as an extra,” he told me.
After creating a profile on a Danish movie site for actors and extras, he has worked on six film projects.
“It is something quite different from what I usually do,” he has said, since by trade he works as a machinist.
“The Promised Land” is partially filmed at an open-air museum located 20 minutes from where my cousin lives and where we grew up together.
He took part in three recording days and was an extra in five scenes.
I found him in two.
“It was really exciting to be a part of the movie,” Michael told me in a message. And when he had a chance to talk to Mads Mikkelsen, “I was a bit star-struck,” he said. After talking to me for this story, my cousin said with a wink, “I expect to get more [acting] work in the U.S. now.”
The Heede family and their friends at LOOK theater at Redlands Cinema Classics. From left: Jan Burgess, Jo Heede, Julia Heede, Siw Heede, Edie Rens, Cheri Dawes, Philip Heede and Ed Murphy. Photo courtesy of Siw Heede
For me it was exciting knowing the area where the movie took place.
There were scenes at the place where Kahlen built his house.
Today it is part of a memorial park with a memorial stone for him and other cultivators of the heath. And the Manor house where the evil Frederik De Schinkel resided is today a retreat center for Danish authors.
After the movie, I heard many wondering whether the plot was based on actual historic events. The audience will be disappointed to hear that Schinkel married Edel Helene and they had three children. And Kahlen went back to the military after the heath project and became a Captain then, not before.
The movie was based on a historical fictional novel from 2020, and the director said that he stayed true to the book more so than to the historic facts.
It is such a delight to have a movie series like the Redlands Cinema Classic in Redlands.
For the past 25 years they have provided not only us transplants a taste of home but for everyone a chance to peek into foreign cultures spoken in foreign languages.
The next featured film is “Driving Madeline” in French with English subtitles.
Showtimes are Wednesday May 1 at 7 p.m. and Thursday May 2 at 2:30 p.m.