Der brænder en ild

Martin Poul Reichhardt returns from Greenland in 1920 to his childhood home, hoping to ride a brief postwar boom that could turn the family’s fortunes around. He moves through a city that has quietly industrialized, takes a quick measure of the town, and reclaims his old social circle at the inn before seeking out the girl who once stole his heart. His first stop is to see Martha [Astrid Villaume], whose warm welcome is tempered by a stubborn truth: she is married now. She chooses not to reveal that her husband is Just [William Rosenberg], Martin’s childhood comrade and a stubborn, hard‑working farmer. The omission leaves Martin pinted by pride, yet he agrees to help out, setting the stage for a cascade of choices that will bind them all to the same plot of land.

Just [William Rosenberg], entangled in family duties and mounting financial strain, welcomes Martin’s offer to work and stay at the family farm. The farm’s future looks bleaker by the day as Bent [Jørn Jeppesen], Just’s uncle and partner in ownership, presses to sell the property as debt gnaws at their balance sheet. Their best option, a bank loan, seems out of reach: unpaid loans and a cautious bank make lending unlikely. The looming threat of eviction drives the family toward desperate measures, while Martin’s growing sympathy for Martha’s situation tugs at his own pride.

Meanwhile, the local romance is as crowded as the harvest. Henrik [Ib Mossin] and Jesper [Bertel Lauring] both chase the heart of Martha’s daughter Inge [Puk Schaufuss], who keeps her own counsel about love and labor. Inge’s choice to attend a city party—against her work duties—sparks a complicated triangle of affection and jealousy. Henrik and Inge share a moment on the dance floor, while Jesper, intoxicated and confrontational, bumps into Erna [Birte Lundsgaard], who shocked by her pregnancy makes her grievance known. Erna’s accusation that Jesper is a flirt who toys with women intensifies the emotional tension, and a confrontation erupts on the party floor, ending with Jesper and Henrik being sent home in a heated uproar.

Back at the farm, the pressure mounts. Just and his wife consult their attorney H. C. Holm [Knud Hallest], who bluntly warns that the bank will not lend money while there are outstanding loans. Martha, driven by the fear of losing the farm, seeks a way to secure insurance money by sabotaging the property. She hatches a dangerous plan that begins with one “accident” — a fire that traps a beloved horse in flames. Martin, compelled by a mixture of sympathy and adversity, arrives with a wrenching mercy and delivers a merciful end to the suffering horse. Yet the first attempt to damage the farm proves insufficient, and Martha refines her strategy, setting the stage for a more convincing disaster.

Martin’s suspicions grow when he discovers a candle remnants and old newspapers left behind, hinting at deliberate misfortune rather than mere misfortune. He keeps his concerns to himself, not wanting to spark a rift that could endanger the people he has grown to care about. The sense of moral ambiguity thickens as Bent signals that bankruptcy may be unavoidable unless the farm changes hands, and Just yields to the reality that selling is perhaps the only option left to stave off ruin.

In a decisive turn of events, Just accepts Martin’s financial help after Bent makes bankruptcy a fait accompli if the farm’s ownership does not shift. The dynamic shifts again when Martin chooses to formalize his aid by marrying Martha’s friend Karen [Birgit Sadolin], a woman who has long nurtured a quiet affection for him. This union cements a pledge to stabilize the farm’s future even as personal loyalties are tested. At the same time, Inge happily accepts Henrik’s proposal, signaling a hopeful future for her own happiness even as the larger financial crisis continues to unfold.

With the marriage of Martin to Karen and Inge’s engagement to Henrik, the plot threads converge into a portrait of resilience and compromise. Jesper, seeking to do the right thing, agrees to take responsibility for his child with Erna [Birte Lundsgaard], but the social constraints of his era prevent a legitimate marriage, leaving him to balance duty with the realities of his family’s disapproval. The film closes on the sober note that, even as love and loyalty persist, people must reckon with debt, obligation, and the sometimes painful path toward a secure future.

This tale unfolds as a study of postwar pressure—economic uncertainty, the fragility of family ties, and the stubborn steadiness of those who refuse to quit. The characters each navigate a landscape where personal desire must contend with practical survival: Martin’s pragmatic generosity, Just’s stubborn pride, Bent’s fiscal realpolitik, Martha’s desperate schemes, and the entwined loves and losses of Inge, Henrik, Jesper, and Erna. In the end, the film offers a layered look at how communities pull together through hardship, even as relationships shift in unexpected ways and a new balance slowly takes shape on the horizon of a town that remembers its past while building toward an uncertain future.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:22