TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
BroadcastChic
Excellent, a Must See
Brooklynn
There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
Lee Eisenberg
We've heard many stories about the Nazis' cruelty. Less is known about an event that took place right after WWII ended. The Nazis had planted a number of land mines along Denmark's coast, and Denmark made a bunch of German POWs clear the coast of the land mines. Martin Zandvliet's "Under sandet" ("Land of Mine" in English) shows how the Danish sergeant overseeing the removal of the mines is often as draconian towards the young Germans as the Nazis were to everyone.In addition to showing this particular historical instance, the movie shows that every person has the potential to be cruel, even towards those associated with cruelty. Many of these young Germans were probably drafted into Hitler's army, but were then seen as agents of evil, so people felt justified in mistreating them. In dealing with those who were previously "the enemy", can we ever consider them something other than the enemy?I recommend the movie. Many of the scenes showing the removal of the mines are intense just for the possibility of a mine exploding. But beyond that, it's an important part of history. Good one.
billcr12
This was one of the nominees for the best foreign language films at the 2017 Oscars. I would have picked it or A Man Called Ove from Sweden. The Salesman won and I was not crazy about it. Land of Mine is what the title implies, and that is the 1.5 million land mines left in Denmark by the occupying German army from 1941-1945. German soldiers were forced to remove the mines, leading to numerous injuries and deaths. Some of the soldiers were teenagers and it is heartbreaking to watch these kids become the pawns of war. The sins of the older men who took their nations to war is what makes this at thinking person's movie. The boys had no responsibility for the atrocities committed by their leaders and yet they were the one who paid the highest price. They crawl on their hands and knees as they attempt to diffuse the mines from the beach. as expected, mistakes are made and innocent children die for no good reason. Land of Mine is one great movie.
Ian
(Flash Review)What could be worse than a long prison term? Here's one punishment; be forced to sweep vast beaches to uncover and disarm live mines post WWII. This is one of the rare films that attempts to make you feel compassion for Germans soon after WWII. As the film tells the true story of German POVs, many of them young boys in this film, that are forced to uncover thousands of mines that the German's buried in Denmark's beaches. These young soldiers are led by a Danish Sargent who hates all NAZI German soldier's guts. He teaches the boys how to dismantle the mines, map and count the mines and then enforce the objective. Being young and stupid boy soldiers, not the typical easy to hate NAZI commander type men, he does grow a bit of a heart for them. The film's focus was around the Sargent and the young POV's, their objective and of course the occasional accident. Very raw at times, it does scratch at your emotions but not as much as I'd imagine from such a hellish objective. Great cinematography with saturated and muted colors help drive the point home about many facets of humanity during a terrible and turbulent period in the world.
mmunier
Going to see "a man called ove" we found the theater booked out so settled for "Land of Mine"that was also been screened and with free sits. How bizarre IMDb says people who like this movie also liked the other! From what I can gather they've got nothing in common topic wise. Regardless for me it was a very worthwhile entertainment. (my friend commented that he was unhappy about it as he claims he goes to see movies to be entertained! May be we need to redefine entertainment. Being a story set at the end of the war I expected war topic and this one took me by surprise as it deals with using war prisoners to defuse enormous number of mines on the beach. And once we aware of the situation we can brace ourselves in our comfortable seat to be a little less comfortable. Although predictable, the dynamic between the "chiefs and the Indians" Given the facts that the Chiefs got badly hurt at the cruelty of the now defeated German army, we could expect some hard feelings going a long way. However we now are dealing with young people who were doing only what they were told to do. Should we judge either party for their present or past action may spring to mind and certainly is thought provoking. The story get you to explores these feeling from the protagonists and yourself as they become individuals human being instead of Germans or Danish. I have question about the ending but like any story it had to end! I found it very interesting and remember returning from my military service spent in Germany as a French soldier and trying to convince an ex resistant from the South of France that thing had changed...But all I got was "the only good German are the dead one! Over to you now :)
