Pelle, o Conquistador

I can see why "Pelle the Conqueror" won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It's exceptionally well made. However, I am warning you that although it's worth seeing, it's not a particularly pleasant film--as it's grim from start to finish...VERY, VERY grim.

The film is set in late 19th century Denmark. It begins with an older man (Max Von Sydow) and his young son, Pelle, arriving there from Sweden. According to the dad, Denmark is a land of many opportunities and there life will be so much better than it had been back home. However, soon they learn that life is dreadfully oppressive here in their new home. They are hired on as indentured servants of sorts--and even the young boy must toil very hard on this farm. In some ways, they are like slaves as the food is terrible, the hours long and there is almost no let up to the bleakness of their lives. Many awful things happen through the course of the film--murdered babies, people getting pounded in the head by a large stone, rapes, and Pelle ultimately learns that through all this, his father is a spineless wimp.

This movie does seem to illustrate just how tough life was and does a great job of showing the lives of illiterate workers, but it's also a real chore to stick with it. Lovers of art films will probably be able to stick around for the almost three hour running time--most of the rest will not. In many ways it reminds me of other Oscar-winners like "The Last Emperor" and "The English Patient"--very grim and miserable films. However, at least with "Pelle" you actually care about the characters--which makes it worth seeing IF you are very, very patient. However, if you are depressed at all, do NOT watch the film--it might just push you over the edge.

Max Von Sydow gives a stirring performance as an immigrant father with an enduring dream of conquering the world. Realizing his failure, he instills the dream in his son. Together, they seek a better life in the new land, but are confronted with harsh conditions and a bleak economic system, systemic of poverty and prejudice. The film locations and the fine acting enhance this Danish import. It should be noted that Von Sydow' character is a man possessed with inner strength and is unafraid of the punishing work and low pay, yet in several parts of the story, the father which his son has come to admire, retreats from the simple promises he has given his son. consequentially, the boy learns to accept his father as just an ordinary man with an enduring dream. Don't we all? ***

Pelle The Conqueror is one of the best films I have ever seen. The story describes the journey of Lasse Karlsson(Max Von Sydow), and his little boy, Pelle, as they move from Sweden to Denmark. In Denmark, they hope to find a better life than in Sweden. Lasse Karlsson and his boy, however, find the Danish life brutal and hard. Finding work on a large farm, Pelle and his father struggle to survive. Pelle The Conqueror is about more than their life on this farm. It is more about the dreams of this young boy, and the inspiration, and determination he gains from his first journey. And it is at the same time about how Pelle eventually needs to move on from his father and find more from life. What a magical movie.

Pelle the Conqueror won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film when it was originally released. Although I did not see it then, it is certainly easy to see why it received that answer. It is an unsparing tale of the life of a Swedish immigrant father and son (Max von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard) who have come to Denmark following the death of wife and mother and found work as laborers on a farm in a desolate seaside landscape. It is, to avoid giving details, a terrible life. I'm told that this is a very thin slice from a four-volume novel. So despite the film's 2-1/2 hour length, what we're shown is a tiny piece of a much larger canvas. Max von Sydow, a famous actor in his day, is superb as the elderly father of young Pelle but the child's role is also very well acted, and the direction by Bille August who also wrote the screenplay is unobtrusive but sure-handed. Since it is set in the 19th Century, there is nothing dated about this film. It is a masterwork.

Pelle the Conquerer is an excellent film for its genre. This, a classic coming of age film, is told in a sincere, brutally honest way. There is a sense of realism here, without a sugar coated happy ending. A child, learning the harsh lessons of life, yet undeterred in his thirst for 'conquering' his own, emerging world. The DVD version is 150 minutes long, this, sadly cut down from the film's original release of 160 minutes. What a shame, in the interest of time, to take away from the directors vision. Max von Sydow turns in another fine performance, but the movie belongs to it's young star. His only film, I am sorry to say. Excellent, inspired....