Film review: Age of Uprising: The legend of Michael Kohlhaas (15, 122 min)

Award-winning Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen headlines this historical drama set in feudalistic 16th century France, adapted from Heinrich von Kleist’s 1811 novella.

Horse dealer Michael Kohlhaas (Mikkelsen) is a loving father, who enjoys a prosperous and contented life in the peaceful countryside with his wife and daughter.

After a wealthy nobleman (Swann Arlaud) publicly humiliates him by stealing two of his precious steeds, Michael demands justice through the courts but his pleas fall on deaf ears at a time when the rich and privileged hold sway.

But when his beloved spouse Judith (Delphine Chuillot) is murdered by the baron’s men as she attempts to argue her family’s case, Michael shrugs off restraint and resorts to increasingly violent measures to gain revenge on the nobleman and his underlings.