The Salvation

By this point in MADSNESS we've had gangster Mads, cannibal Mads, villainous Mads, ripped Mads, mentally ill Mads, saintly Mads and revolutionary Mads. THE SALVATION gives us cowboy Mads.

A Danish western sounds like a contradiction in terms. THE SALVATION quickly proves otherwise.

Set in the American frontier during the 1870s, the film follows Jon, a Danish immigrant who has spent years building a new life in America while waiting for his wife and son to join him. Their long-awaited reunion lasts just a few hours before a senseless act of violence leaves Jon with nothing but revenge on his mind. His search for justice soon brings him into conflict with the region's most feared outlaw, setting in motion a brutal chain of events that engulfs an entire town.

Directed by Dogme 95 co-founder Kristian Levring, THE SALVATION embraces the traditions of the classic Hollywood western while filtering them through a distinctly Scandinavian sensibility. The result is lean, unsentimental and beautifully photographed, with echoes of John Ford, Sergio Leone and the moral ambiguity of modern Nordic cinema.

Alongside Eva Green and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mads delivers one of his most physically restrained performances. Jon isn't a wisecracking gunslinger or an invincible action hero. He's simply an ordinary man pushed beyond the limits of what anyone should be expected to endure.

Part revenge thriller, part elegy for the myth of the American frontier, THE SALVATION is one of the most overlooked films in Mads Mikkelsen's international career and proof that he could have walked straight into a classic western without anyone questioning it.