1864

1864 is a 2014 Danish television historical war drama series written and directed by Ole Bornedal. It is based on two books by Tom Buk-Swienty about the Second Schleswig War of 1864 between Denmark and an alliance of Prussia and Austria which ended in defeat for Denmark and the loss of a quarter of its territory to Prussia. It follows two brothers from a remote village on Funen who enlist in the Danish army just before the outbreak of war, and experience the horrors of combat in Schleswig. It also features actual historical figures such as Danish prime minister D. G. Monrad and Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck. It was the most expensive Danish TV series to be made to date. Production 1864 was produced by Miso Film for DR. It was a co-production with Film Fyn, TV2 (Norway), TV4 (Sweden), SF Studios, ARTE, ZDF Enterprises and Sirena Film (Czech Republic). DR had recently produced the highly successful series The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge, and several of the stars of those series, such as Lars Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Søren Malling, were among the cast. 1864 was filmed on location at Dybbøl, scene of the climactic battle of the war, in the Svanninge Hills on Funen, and at Hagenskov, Egebjerggård and Hvidkilde Manors, also on Funen. The battle scenes were filmed in the Czech Republic over a period of seven weeks. Tom Buk-Swienty, on whose books the series was based, was a historical consultant on the series. It was the most expensive television series ever made in Denmark, with a projected cost of 173 million kroner (about $25 million). The director, Ole Bornedal, described it as "a classic story about power and the abuse of power...of people getting separated." The BBC's John Wilson said it had "the sense of the epic in scale" but with "a great undertone of tragedy." The background to the opening credits is the painting (From the outposts, 1864) by Vilhelm Rosenstand.