A work of staggering ambition in production and storytelling that matches the stature of its controversial subject – one of Europe’s most contentious building projects. The Mærsk Opera is a musical reworking of the machinations behind the construction of the giant edifice of Copenhagen’s new opera house. It was donated to the city of Copenhagen by the late Mærsk McKinney-Møller, the world’s largest shipping owner and Denmark’s richest man. But there were conditions. It had to be built in the harbour on the sightline between a famous church and the royal palace. The musical composition by Anders Monrad, with libretto by Nikolaj Heltoft, brings to life a cast of characters both real and imaginary. The film deploys an incredible array of techniques, from animation to documentary, to tell this tale of hubris and hypocrisy which witnesses government officials and a city’s population seduced by the grand ambitions of the global capitalist.

Helen de Witt