The Salvation

The Salvation (from Weird and Wonderful II: Fifty More Cult Films by George Hughes, available from www.freefall-productions.com)

2014 / Denmark / 92 minutes

“I was a soldier once. It taught me a lesson: don’t get into a fight you know you’re going to lose.”

Director: Kristian Levring / Screenplay: Kristian Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen / Director of Photography: Jens Schlosser / Music: Kasper Winding / Production: Sisse Graum Jorgensen for Zentropa Entertainments / Cast: Mads Mikkelsen (Jon Jensen), Eva Green (Madelaine), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Henry Delarue), Mikael Presbrandt (Peter Jensen), Jonathan Pryce (Nathan Keane), Nanna Oland Fabricius (Marie Jensen),Toke Lars Bjarke (Kresten Jensen), David James (Tracker), Michael Redmond-James (Paul Delarue), Sean Cameron Michael (Lester).

In 1871, Jon (Mads Mikkelsen), a Danish veteran of the Second Schleswig War, welcomes his wife Marie (Nanna Oland Fabricius) and son Kresten (Lars Bjarke) to the United States, where he has settled near the town of Black Creek. On their way to the land Jon has bought, the family are attacked by two outlaws, Paul Delarue (Michael Redmond-James) and Lester (Sean Cameron Michael), and Jon is separated from Marie and Kresten.

   Eventually, Jon’s able to catch up with Paul and Lester but discovers they’ve murdered Marie and Kresten. Jon shoots both outlaws dead and sells his land to Black Creek’s Mayor, Nathan Keane (Jonathan Pryce) but before he can leave the town he’s captured by men working for Henry Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Paul’s brother and a powerful gang leader and land baron.

   A former soldier said to have been a good man once (“Before all the Indian killing unsettled his mind”), Henry is so feared by the townspeople that nobody has ever dared to stand up to him and his men. However, Jon is able to escape with the help of his own brother and fellow former soldier, Peter (Mikael Presbrandt).

   Discovering that Keane and Henry are working together in league with the Standard Atlantic oil company to buy out the whole town because the surrounding area is rich in untapped crude pits, Jon vows revenge and kills Keane. But after Peter is also killed by Delarue’s men, Jon must again face insurmountable odds alone.

   Meanwhile, Madeline (Eva Green), a mute woman previously forced into marriage to Paul and now claimed by Henry, has been recaptured by the gang after an escape attempt. Consumed by bitter, silent hatred, Madeline is constantly planning her own revenge on Delarue and may well be Jon’s last hope…

   A rare Danish Revenge Western, The Salvation was shot in South Africa and is a refreshingly different take on familiar themes. Unfortunately, it’s international releases were quite limited and too far apart to generate much interest but it’s one of the best examples of how to do the genre well in recent years. Although very popular in France (I was in Paris during is theatrical run and a big deal was made of it there), it never really caught on anywhere else but is well worth seeking out.

   The Salvation also reunites Casino Royale’s (2006) Bond villain and Bond girl, who are both excellent throughout in very different parts that never once bring Le Chiffre and Vesper Lynd to mind (although, as in that film, Mikkelsen and Green share very few scenes and no dialogue, this time obviously because Madeline can’t speak).

   An unconventional leading man still mostly typecast in villainous roles (in English language films, anyway) Mikkelsen gives a restrained but devastating performance as the grimly determined wronged everyman Jon. But the character of Madeline delivers even more (literally) silent rage and the most intense Eva Green stare of all intense Eva Green stares (ironically, Daniel Craig’s 007’s next leading lady, Olga Kurylenko, also played an underestimated and highly dangerous mute in Neil Marshall’s 2010 Roman battle actioner, Centurion).

   Jeffrey Dean Morgan (best known as “The Comedian” in 2009’s Watchmen) is also outstanding as the genuinely nasty Henry Delarue, although his look and performance certainly owe a lot to Powers Boothe’s in Tombstone (1993). Whilst Jonathan Pryce (another Bond adversary, he was in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies) is equally impressive as Keane, the simpering and spineless “Leader” of a town of cowards. A particular highlight is Jon’s response to his protestations about just being a businessman: “You’re not even a man”.

   As the film’s final shot makes clear with its glimpse into the future, all of the casual brutality, senseless bloodshed and loss of innocent life was ultimately about land, power, oil and money. These are all issues still very much with America, just as real Henry Dealrues and Mayor Keanes have been ever since.