Evening Land
1977 film by Peter Watkins
Evening Land (Aftenlandet in Danish) is a 1977 Danish pseudo-documentary drama written and directed by Peter Watkins. In the film, the Danish police pursue a group of radicals who have kidnapped a government minister to support a shipyard strike.
Plot
The story begins with a Danish newsreader reporting on a work stoppage occurring at the Copenhagen Shipyard. The workers are on strike because the management has proposed a wage freeze to secure a military contract with a European nation. Several strikes are happening in Europe, and several trade unions join the strike in solidarity. The Shipyard client later turns out to be France, and the order consists of four nuclear-driven submarines which can be fitted with nuclear missiles. The strike increases to 87,000 workers, and the European Ministers of Defence hold a press conference to address the situation.
At the same time, a summit meeting of European Common Market ministers takes place in Copenhagen. A group of radical demonstrators kidnaps the Danish EEC Minister. Their demands are the cease of production of nuclear submarines and power plants, the demands of the strike are to be met, and a new referendum on the EEC and NATO is to be held in Denmark.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Evening Land” is 1977 film by Peter Watkins. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Evening, Land and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1977 film by Peter Watkins” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3061415. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Evening Land”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Evening Land primary sources, Evening Land archive and Evening research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Evening Land”?
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- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Evening Land” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.