The Salvation (2014)

Directed by Kristian Levring
Written by Anders Thomas Jensen and Kristian Levring
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Mikael Persbrandt

In 1870s America, a peaceful Danish settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. With a bounty on his head, his cowardly fellow townspeople betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone.

A story of revenge and justice, this is single handedly the best foreign Western film since Clint Eastwood's  "The Man With No Name" trilogy. It is a unique perspective on the old west told from a foreign settlers point of view, creating a stronger feeling of disgust with how he and his family were treated in their new home.

Mads Mikkelsen continues to prove himself as one of the elite actors of the world with a captivating performance as the vengeful Dane with nothing to lose. It is extremely easy to root for him as he kicks some ass and takes some names. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is intensely evil as the ruthless marauder.

If I had to nitpick, I would say this movies one flaw is it's formulaic plot. Regardless of it's unique, foreign settler perspective, it is a rather over-played story. Complete with a one-on-twelve shoot out and and intense standoff, it takes all of the aspects that makes westerns great. Yet, despite it's predictability, it is one of the best Western films in recent memory and revives a dying genre, if only for a while.

My Rating: 7/10

The Hunt (2012)

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Written by Tobias Lindholm and Thomas Vinterberg
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp and Lasse Folgelstrøm

A Kindergarten teacher's life is torn apart when one of his students tells an innocent lie that causes the entire town and his closest friends question what kind of man he is.

I'm going to get really pretentious here for a moment as an opener, so bear with me. They say that art is any form of expression that creates an emotional response. If that is the case, this film is pure art. Through it's entirety, I felt more emotion than several thousands of the movies I have seen combined.

Happiness, nostalgia, glee, confusion, anger, rage, content, fear and rage again. All within the span of an hour and fifty-five minutes. It is a case study in how people are treated when false accusations against them blow out of control, and how they try to get their life back to some sense of normalcy, while the entire world fights against them. Filled with dramatic irony, I spent the entire film furious at all of the secondary characters.

At points you just want to reach into your screen and scream at them, telling them they don't know what they're talking about, but you just have to watch and let it play out itself. Unequivocally a painfully emotional yet beautiful film. This could perhaps be by favorite foreign language film of all time.

My Rating: 10/10