A Promised Land 2

[Cookie Grosky]

Theseallegedly divine promises were given prior to the birth of Abraham's sons. Abraham's family tree includes both the Ishmaelite tribes (the claimed ancestry of Arabs and of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) through Abraham's first son Ishmael and the Israelite tribes (the claimed ancestry of Jews and Samaritans) through Abraham's second son Isaac.

The Torah's subsequent Book of Exodus describes it as "land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:17) and gives verses on how to treat the prior occupants and marks the borders in terms of the Red Sea, the "Sea of the Philistines", and the "River", which a modern English Bible translates to:

Mainstream Jewish tradition regards the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as having been given to anyone considered a Jew, including proselytes and in turn their descendants[3] and is signified through the brit milah (rite of circumcision).

In the New Testament, the descent and promise is reinterpreted along religious lines.[4] In the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul the Apostle draws attention to the formulation of the promise, avoiding the term "seeds" in the plural (meaning many people), choosing instead "seed," meaning one person, who, he understands to be Jesus (and those united with him). For example, in Galatians 3:16 he notes:

Many European colonists saw America as the "Promised Land", representing a haven from religious conflicts and persecution. For instance, Puritan minister John Cotton's 1630 sermon God's Promise to His Plantation gave colonizers departing England to Massachusetts repeated references to the Exodus story, and later German immigrants sang: "America ... is a beautiful land that God promised to Abraham."[8]

In a sermon celebrating independence in 1783, Yale president Ezra Stiles implied Americans were chosen and delivered from bondage to a Promised Land: "the Lord shall have made his American Israel 'high above all nations which he hath made',"[9] reflecting language from Deuteronomy of the promise.

Shawnee/Lenape scholar Steven Newcomb argued in his 2008 book Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery[10] that Christendom's discovery doctrine was also the same claim of "the right to kill and plunder non-Christians" found in this covenant tradition, whereby "the Lord" in Deuteronomy told his chosen people how they were to "utterly destroy" the "many nations before thee" when "He" brought them into the land "He" had discovered and promised to "His" "Chosen People" to "possess", and that this "right" was woven into US law through the 1823 Johnson v. McIntosh Supreme Court ruling.[11]

African-American spirituals invoke the imagery of the "Promised Land" as heaven or paradise[14] and as an escape from slavery, which could often only be reached by death.[citation needed] The imagery and term also appear elsewhere in popular culture, in sermons, and in speeches such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 "I've Been to the Mountaintop", in which he said:

I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.[15]

Under the name Palestine, we comprehend the small country formerly inhabited by the Israelites, and which is today part of Acre and Damascus pachalics. It stretched between 31 and 33 N. latitude and between 32 and 35 degrees E. longitude, an area of about 1300 French: lieues carres. Some zealous writers, to give the land of the Hebrews some political importance, have exaggerated the extent of Palestine; but we have an authority for us that one can not reject. St. Jerome, who had long traveled in this country, said in his letter to Dardanus (ep. 129) that the northern boundary to that of the southern, was a distance of 160 Roman miles, which is about 55 French: lieues. He paid homage to the truth despite his fears, as he said himself, of availing the Promised Land to pagan mockery, "Pudet dicere latitudinem terrae repromissionis, ne ethnicis occasionem blasphemandi dedisse uideamur" (Latin: "I am embarrassed to say the breadth of the promised land, lest we seem to have given the heathen an opportunity of blaspheming").[20][21]

The Promised Land had its world premiere on 31 August 2023 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival where it competed for the Golden Lion.[8] It was selected as the Danish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards,[9] and was one of the 15 finalist films in the December shortlist.[10]

In 1755, Captain Ludvig Kahlen, an impoverished Danish officer of humble birth, retires after 25 years of service in a German Army with a measly pension to his native Denmark and obtains a permission from the Royal Danish Court to build a property on the barren Jutland moorland for land cultivation. He hopes to establish a settlement on that property, and in return for that he requests from the Court a privilege of a noble title with an associated manor. Soon after arriving at the site of his prospective homestead, he comes into conflict with Frederik Schinkel, a local magistrate at the nearby Hald Manor and a merciless landowner who has been trying to monopolize ownership of the moorland.[11]

Schinkel does his utmost to make workforce unavailable to Kahlen, who covertly employs and harbors Johannes Eriksen and his wife Ann Barbara, two of Schinkel's indentured serf farmers who broke their contract and fled Frederik's mistreatment. After being led to their camp by Anmai Mus, a Romani girl he catches trying to steal from him, he also hires the "Tatere" Romani Travellers as workers, though that practice is illegal. In the meantime, Schinkel's cousin and betrothed Edel Helene is not interested in marrying him, but her father insists on the marriage due to Schinkel's substantial wealth, unless she can come up with an alternative suitor within a year.

At a harvest ball, Edel meets Kahlen secretly and share a kiss to seal the understanding that if he can acquire a noble title within the year, they will marry, offering her an escape from the unwanted union with her cousin. Towards the end of the party, Schinkel reveals that he has recaptured Johannes while he was on his way to the coast to acquire clay for Kahlen's farm. The escaped serf is tortured to death with boiling water by his former master in front of the appalled party guests. Kahlen takes Johannes' body back to his wife; seeing the boiled body of their fellow worker, the Travellers leave Kahlen's employment, though Anmai Mus manages to stay behind. Despite multiple challenges during a brutal winter, with Ann Barbara and Anmai Mus's help, Kahlen manages to plant the potatoes brought from Germany and harvest 80 sacks. In the process, the three form an unofficial family, and Kahlen and Ann Barbara start a sexual relationship.

When the King receives report of the successful harvest, he orders the establishment of a settlement on Kahlen's estate. Kahlen is conferred the title of Royal Surveyor and 50 settlers from Northern Germany are sent to his land. The superstitious settlers are repulsed by Anmai Mus, although she manages to stay out of sight and learns reading and surveying from Kahlen.

Furious at Kahlen's success, Schinkel imports convicts to attack the new settlement, murdering two settlers and half the livestock. In revenge, Kahlen and a few settlers attack and kill the perpetrators in their hideout, though he is forced to send Anmai Mus away in exchange for their help. This betrayal also causes Ann Barbara to leave as well. Schinkel's officer Preisler, witnesses the killings and flees. Schinkel, along with his fellow estate owners, reports this to the king's cabinet; the new settlement's lands' ownership is transferred to Schinkel and Kahlen is arrested.

While Kahlen is being tortured at Schinkel's estate, Ann Barbara sneaks in and prepares a poisoned drink, while Edel leads Schinkel into drinking it. While he is incapacitated, Ann Barbara comes in and stabs him in the stomach and castrates him. Butler Bondo explains everything to the king's cabinet; Kahlen is released, Ann Barbara is imprisoned for life and Edel returns to her home in Norway. Kahlen locates Anmai Mus and promises to take care of her, and the two begin living in the farm.

Several years later, an officer informs Kahlen that he is granted the title of baron and that 400 new settlers will be arriving soon. Before that happens, a now-teenaged Anmai Mus leaves with a travelling Romani group. Kahlen leaves the moor and his title is annulled. He eventually frees Ann Barbara from a travelling prisoner cart and both of them ride a horse towards the sea.

The Promised Land had its world premiere on August 31, 2023 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival,[18][19] to then screen on September 7, 2023 at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival.[20][21] It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'World Cinema' section and was screened on 6 October 2023.[22]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 108 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Mads Mikkelson leads us through the savage terrain of The Promised Land with a glimmer of hope in this epic Nordic tale with Western bones."[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[25]

Crown is proud to partner with these international publishers for the worldwide publication of A Promised Land. An English-language edition will be published in the UK and British Commonwealth territories by Viking, an imprint of Penguin General Books at Penguin Random House UK. It will also be available in the following languages:

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