Alex Southam's engrossing video for Mumford & Sons' Ditmas follows a native Cossack breaking a horse set against the gorgeous rural landscape.

Shot on location in the Ukraine, it's the first half of a two-part story – the second half will be released soon – and as Southam explains below their horse-breaker, Evgeniy Krutov, was most certainly the real deal.

ALEX SOUTHAM:

"The character in the video - who's name is Evgeniy - is a genuine Cossack raised within a Cossack community. Part of his work now is to break and train horses, so was the perfect subject for our film.

"Whilst the shoot was pretty brutal and unforgiving - particularly for our hero - we captured something really special, no more so than the moments in the final third of the video where our hero finally becomes one with the horse."