An overlooked war film on Amazon Prime Video has been labelled a “masterpiece” by fans. With an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 92%, it has received huge praise since it was first released in 2015 and even received an Oscar nomination. Land of Mine recently joined Amazon Prime Video’s catalogue of war movies, giving fans a chance to discover another flick centered around WW2 and the years that followed.
The film follows a crew of German soldiers in Danish captivity who are given the task of clearing beaches of landmines. They try tirelessly to survive the mission and gain their freedom, all without any training or equipment. Land of Mine is inspired by real-life events when more than 1.3 million landmines had to be cleared from Danish beaches following the war. It is widely understood that over 2,000 German prisoners of war, some of whom were teenagers, cleared the mines following the Second World War, with close to 150 of them losing their lives during the tense operation.
Following its premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 89th Academy Awards. Land of Mine has been described as portraying “often forgotten” events related to the Second World War, according to the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes.
While movie critics were full of praise for this film, general audiences also had positive things to say. One IMDb reviewer claimed that the flick makes The Hurt Locker seem like a “walk in the park”. They wrote: “Brilliantly directed by Martin Zandvleit and beautifully played by a cast of mostly unfamiliar faces, this is an intelligent and unsentimental look a a piece of World War Two history usually ignored by the cinema, and it has the courage to paint ‘the enemy’ in a good light and ‘the allies’ as villains.”
Another described Land of Mine as “tough as nails”, while one reviewer called is a “war film with a difference”. They wrote: “A confronting, shocking and sometimes unbearably tense war drama, Land of Mine is a war film like none other and while it never pulls off a true emotionally resonate connection, this foreign language effort is well worth digging up and one of the more impressive war films of recent years.”
One person also said: “The movie is extremely emotional and involving. Only the least empathetic viewer could not feel something for these boys, that were forced to go through this unbelievably horrendous experience. The relationship they have with their enemy sergeant is also extremely touching and powerful.”
They added: “By focusing on a part of World War II history that’s rarely covered (in films at least), the movie also seems original and surprisingly educational. It’s a very moving story about forgiveness, in the harshest of circumstances, as well. I think it’s a masterpiece that everyone should see. I’d almost give it a perfect rating, but I’m slightly hesitant to for some reason.”