‘Hercules Falling’ review: Dar Salim is phenomenal as a troubled war veteran in powerful Danish drama

Dir: Christian Bonke. Denmark. 2025. 104mins

Former Danish soldier Youssef (Dar Salim) has clocked up excursions of responsibility in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. On the time, it was only a job. However now he’s again at residence along with his household, he realises that his fight experiences have stayed with him. A violent incident prompts Youssef to hunt assist at a voluntary psychological well being facility for Danish veterans on the island of Strynø. Documentarian Christian Bonke’s function movie debut peoples a fictional story with real-live fight veterans and therapists, to highly effective impact. Salim, shuttered and silent for a lot of the movie, is phenomenal, however the supporting forged is equally spectacular and wholly genuine.

Salim’s star energy must be a major draw

The movie, which gained Tallinn’s First Characteristic Competitors, is Bonke’s first fiction movie, however it’s a continuation of an method to filmmaking which blends documentary and narrative components. His earlier credit embody the function documentary Ballroom Dancer, co-directed with Andreas Koefoed, which picked up a prize at Tribeca in 2012, and he has additionally directed music movies, commercials and TV documentary collection.

Hercules Falling was made with the collaboration of Anne-Line Ussing and her husband, Stuart Press, who run the character and remedy facility on Strynø the place the movie was largely shot, and who seem as themselves within the movie. (Press served within the Australian military and was subsequently identified with PTSD). Youssef’s story was drawn from the real-life experiences shared by the veterans who attended the retreat. Movies about psychological well being crises will not be the best promote, however Salim’s star energy must be a major draw.

The incident that causes Youssef to grasp that he has an issue is sudden and surprising. He’s asleep on the couch subsequent to his nine-year-old son Oskar (Hector Banissi); his spouse Laerke (Christine Gjerulff) is out for the night, leaving her boys collectively for a bonding night time. However when Oskar tries to shake his father awake, Youssef stares at him, unrecognising, eyes black with rage and his arms clenched across the youngster’s throat. However even earlier than the PTSD tears via his household life, there are hints, in Salim’s extraordinary, understated efficiency, that every one is just not effectively. Even sitting immobile in a automotive as he waits for Oskar to complete faculty, Youssef seems to be like unexploded ordnance about to blow.

Youssef says little or no within the first week or so at Strynø. However his hostility to this place with its yurt and protected areas couldn’t be clearer if he was screaming it on the prime of his lungs, Salim is a formidable bodily presence on display, bulked up and knotted. He brilliantly captures the quandary of a combating man who’s compelled to recognise his personal frailty. Youssef is charged with a stressed, harmful power. And he’s not alone on this. There’s a beautiful bonding second when he stumbles throughout one other former soldier, Felix (Marcus MP) digging a gap as a method of calming down. They take turns with the spade, then stand awkwardly trying on the product of their labours. “Let’s simply benefit from the gap,” says Felix, quietly.

It’s a bumpy street that Youssef has chosen to stroll, with setbacks at each flip. The butchery of one of many sheep on the farm triggers a breakdown; however from there Youssef begins to know what traumas are lurking like landmines in his psyche. The grim, discordant rating grows extra melodic and airier, and in time, his spouse and youngster really feel protected sufficient to go to. However because the wind blows throughout the island, Oskar feedback that it feels as if there’s a tsunami brewing. The foreshadowing metaphor couldn’t be clearer: there are tough instances nonetheless to return.