LFF 2015 top 10 memories no. 5: Land of Mine

Have I ever enjoyed a film so much that I saw so little of? Land of Mine generates almost extreme levels of tension that it should probably come with a warning; I spent much of its run time with my hands in front of my face.

In the immediate aftermath of WWII, the Danish authorities needed to clear their country’s western coastline of more than two million German mines. Who best to carry out this hideous task? The German POWs of course.

Land of Mine focuses on a small stretch of beach, the sergeant tasked with ensuring the mines are cleared and the gang of near-dozen German boys (they’re not young men, they are just teenagers) who have to clear the mines.

Writer-director Martin Zandvliet continually pulls the rug from underneath the audience: you just don’t know which boy will die first. By using an apparently random mixture of long and medium shots and close-ups from boy to boy, mine to mine, you never know who’s going to get blown up and whether they’ll die on the spot or suffer horrific injuries (warning, those injuries are shown in detail when they happen).

Roland Moller as the Sgt oscillates between Amon Goeth and Oskar Schindler, one moment berating them and viewing them as cattle, the next caring for them as a father would.

The child actors are uniformly excellent: you wonder if the film was shot in sequence and with the actors not knowing until the last possible moment if their character would survive each scene.

I’ll say nothing about the finale, except that I think it’s justified.

Score: 8/10

No release date confirmed yet