Another marvelous 2023 leftover, Nikolaj Arcel’s “The Promised Land,” Denmark’s submission for the foreign-language Oscar, has everything you want in an epic film: struggle, romance, period detail, violence, great acting, atmosphere, unforgettable images, a hero played by the great Mads Mikkelsen, a despicable villain and German potatoes. In yet another awards-worthy performance, Mikkelsen plays Ludvig von Kahlen, the 18th century bastard son of a maid and a land owner, who was sent off to the German army as a boy. Having returned to his native Denmark in 1755, Captain von Kahlen (Mikkelsen) has a plan to work the non-arable soil of the Danish “heath” aka the wild Jutland and transform it into farmland, creating a new, viable stretch of his homeland. If he succeeds, the King will send provisions, money, settlers and a noble title. If he fails, which the abhorrently corrupt politicians of the Royal Treasury hope, he may have to return to the Poorhouse for Veterans.

Based on the 2020 bestseller “The Captain and Ann Barbara” by Danish author Ida Jessen, “The Promised Land” begins as a portrait of a man who will go any any lengths to succeed in his quest. His greatest obstacle is not the sandy, rocky soil. It is his nobleman neighbor, the lord of Hald Manor, Frederick De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), who admits that he added the “De” to make Schinkel sound more aristocratic.

De Schinkel is a glutton, a drunkard and a rapist of his female servants and the wives of his indentured farmers. Ludvig takes in a married couple – Johannes Eriksen (Morton Hee Andersen) and the beautiful Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin) – being pursued by De Schinkel because they have fled one of his farms. Ludvig also befriends an idealistic local cleric (Gustav Lindh). Eriksen has already been severely flogged and beaten by De Schinkel’s brutish cohorts Bondo (Thomas W. Gabrielsson) and Paulli (Soren Malling). De Schinkel claims that the land where Ludvig builds a house and begins to farm belongs to him. At night, the heath is overrun by outlaws, some of them Romany, including a conniving little girl named Ammai Mus (a delightful Hagberg Melina). Later, Ludvig and Ann Barbara will take Ammai Mus in, even though all of them are starving and many of the settlers believe the “dark girl” is a “demon child,” who will curse them all and demand that she be sent away.

Director Arcel, who made a name for himself with “A Royal Affair” (2012) with Mikkelsen and Alicia Vikander and stumbled with “The Dark Tower” (2017), does great justice to his source. He reduces some of the action to flashes of lightning. Arcel’s longtime collaborator Rasmus Videbaek (“The Royal Affair”) lights many scenes with candlelight or campfire. “The Promised Land,” which is based on genuine Danish historical figures, glows. And it does so most ardently when Mikkelsen is onscreen. It’s difficult to say why one actor is a star and another is not. Let’s begin with the fact that the camera loves Mikkelsen, which has been obvious to many of us since Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” (1997). Almost 10 years later, Mikkelsen would be the villain in “Casino Royale” opposite Daniel Craig’s “new” James Bond. In “The Promised Land,” Mikkelsen delivers a performance worthy of the great Swedish leading man Max von Sydow. For Americans, “The Promised Land” plays like the great Western that the Stephen King-based “The Dark Tower” was not. But the real surprise of the new film is how Collin (Mother in TV’s “Raised by Wolves”) as Ann Barbara emerges from the shadows to become Ludvig’s (and Mikkelsen’s) partner and the film’s bloodthirsty avenging angel.

(“The Promised Land” contains profanity, sexually suggestive scenes and extreme violence)

“The Promised Land”

Rated R. In Danish, Swedish, German and Norwegian with subtitles. At AMC Boston Common and Landmark Kendall Square.

Grade: A-