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We live in a time of easy radicalisation. Nuance is rarely necessary in the political dialogue of today. Here two charmless characters illustrate as much. Hassan (Imad Abul-Foul) is building a small, frankly ineffectual army of Muslim discontents from the back of his café. Martin Nordahl (Rasmus Bjerg) has taken to Denmark’s media to preach the need to clear immigrants from the country. The Sons of Denmark, a far-right group of acid-splashing thugs have no doubt that their time is coming, Nordahl will soon be Prime Minister and Denmark will be for the “Danish” once again. Young Zakaria, unable to imagine a future for himself or his family, his community under constant attack, is being trained in assassination, because Nordahl must die.

Lack of nuance in political discussion is worrying, onscreen it threatens to be merely unsatisfying. As handsome and beautiful as Ilaa Salim’s first feature is, the first hour struggles to entirely engage. The disenfranchised are easy targets for radicalisation… Yes. As tiresome as it is to ask a piece of art what it’s for, when a movie seems determined to make a point it’s impossible to quite resist asking why. Anyone inclined to empathise with young Zakaria as he nervously prepares to kill Nordahl was always likely to do so. Those who would be nodding at Nordahl’s speeches on rampant immigration are unlikely to lose their bigotry in the face of such a blunt argument as this. Indeed, they’re unlikely to lose their bigotry at all. Also, the near future Sons of Denmark imagines, where a far-right political party achieves a general election landslide feels, miserably, less of a warning and more of grim certainty. 2025? How about tomorrow?

Thankfully, just when you’re concerned that you’re trapped in the room with nothing but a pointless discussion surrounded by beautiful scenery, the film turns and the final hour becomes something entirely more complex. It is here that Sons of Denmark completely earns your attention. We build to a climax that is as morally turbulent and provocative as it is entirely, horribly inevitable. The strokes are still broad but the picture being painted is a far darker, more challenging one. The film asks questions and doesn’t do anything as dull or reductive as offer answers.

One problem the film doesn’t solve, however, is the absence of women. There are three female characters, mothers and wives, who exist to cook eggs and either lament or look doting. The world of radicalisation – or the fight against it – is not exclusively male and it would have been to the film’s benefit had it possessed a broader view.

The performances – most particularly from Zaki Youssef, so adeptly conveying the encroaching sense of paranoia and terror that would come from trying to protect your family in a world that wants to hurt them – are faultless.

Verdict: A blunt polemic sharpened into a far more interesting weapon at its mid-point. A challenging, beautifully shot, wonderfully acted movie that is as ultimately hard to watch as it will be to forget. 7/10

Guy Adams

Click here to order Sons of Denmark from Amazon.co.uk