Regie:
Jan TroellCamera:
Jan TroellMuziek:
Erik NordgrenActeurs:
Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg, Pierre Lindstedt, Allan Edwall, Monica Zetterlund, Hans Alfredson, Gustaf Färingborg, Åke Fridell, Ulla Smidje (meer)Samenvattingen(1)
The film is based on Vilhelm Moberg´s two first novels about the massive migration of Swedish farm families to the United States in the middle of the 19th century. Troell´s film is a kind of symphony in three movements - the hard and unrewarding farm life in Sweden which gave urgency to the migrations, the terrifying sea voyage and then the journey by train, steamboat and finally on foot from New York to the rich and unspoiled vistas of the upper Midwest. The film describes the hardships of life in Småland in a series of brief bitter vignettes. At the centre is the family of Karl Oskar Nilsson. Some primitive sense of purpose draws these simple people together in their determination to sail to America. But the long sea voyage is only a terrifying introduction to the uprooted life of an emigrant peasant. After days and days of travel by train and boat into the heart of the continent, Karl Nilsson and other migrants join other Swedes, earlier migrants, in Minnesota. Karl Nilsson begins a search for a farm of his own. At the end, he finds it in a rich open meadow in thick forest land. (officiële tekst van distribiteur)
(meer)Video's (1)
Recensie (1)
The pace is too slow, which is even multiplied by a way too long footage, so you feel it´s twice as long. Full of long, quiet shots portraying suffering Swedes working hard on frozen, barren fields, vomitting on a shabby ship overfilled with emotions or having the hard time traveling long distances through America´s wasteland and chasing their dream for a better life. Despite the above, however, it is not dull or boring. Mainly thanks to the multi-layered characters and acting of (not only) the duo Sydow / Ullmann. Moreover, it is beautifully shot and will make you naturally immerse into a daily routine of Nordic peasant of the mid-nineteenth century. The biggest problem is the middle passage (or, if you want, the second chapter) on the ship, where instead of a repetitive one hour, a striking twenty minutes would be enough. In fact, making the footage shorter in a smart and sensitive way would make the movie better. After all, the footage of three and a quarter hours that is based on a less than three hundred and fifty-page novel is rarely seen. Thanks to this, it is a very faithful to the original, as a result, sadly, too illustrative, however undeniably good.
()
Galerie (37)
Foto © Warner Bros.
![The Emigrants - Van film](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/161/867/161867097_280a0f.jpg)