One of this year’s Berlinale standouts – a visually polished neo-Western about a small town awaiting the apocalypse. American director Dara van Dusen makes her feature debut with a searing portrait of society, starring South African-British actor Johnny Flynn, American actor John C. Reilly, Norwegian actress Kristine Kujath Thorp and Danish actor Gustav Lindh. The film gradually builds toward Fassbinderian chords, where “fear eats the soul”.

The middle of nowhere, Wisconsin. This settlement was named Friendship by its Northern European migrants. Life after the American Civil War has returned to its usual rhythm – the locals anticipate the arrival of the traveling circus, trade, and yearn for a better future. Jacob, a war veteran, has taken on the responsibility of providing for his new family while also serving as Friendship’s sheriff, undertaker and preacher. His intentions are good, but when an epidemic and a natural disaster strike the town, every decision becomes an unavoidable choice between two evils.

This feverishly existential and brilliantly acted big-screen drama, a testament to van Dusen’s distinctive European cinematic sensibility. In her adaptation of Stewart O’Nan’s 1999 novel about a war veteran whose obsession gradually erodes conventional notions of good and evil, drawing him ever neared to an impasse, the director explores collective psychology, trauma and isolationism, placing her characters alongside the will-driven heroes of Herzog’s filmography. A key aspect of the neo-Western is its portrayal of a close-knit, insular community of Northern European immigrants in the United States in the second half of the 19th century, bringing to the fore the timeless question – made all the more relevant by the recent pandemic – of individual freedom versus public safety. With its striking mise-en-scène, this Western was nominated for the Best Feature Film Debut Award in the Berlinale’s Perspectives competition.