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Lev Kuleshov would have wet his pants at the sight of Mads Mikkelsen.

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They were meant to be molded and bent and reshaped by their directors.

Beyond his actual talents, we can read what we want in the man.

Kahlen was a historical figure, but not much is known about him.

(The film is based on the novelThe Captain and Ann Barbaraby the Danish author Ida Jessen.)

We first see him sitting by a fire, polishing his medals.

He wants to establish a settlement on the heath in the name of the king.

Hes a stickler for propriety and order, obsessed with his mission and his quest for a title.

In his mind, hes already the proper aristocrat he hopes to be.

Plus, de Schinkel is, to put it mildly, something of a psychopath.

Now, Mikkelsens face takes on the quality of disgust, and of slow-burning vengefulness.

Others go back to basics.

The result is the kind of ravishing, rousing epic we dont really get much of anymore.

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