Customer Reviews

Pelle the Conqueror

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pelle the Conqueror is an utterly flawless film with regards to acting, cinematography, score, storytelling, etc. It won Best Foreign Film honors at the Academy Awards and was even nominated for Best Picture. Of course, the politics of Hollywood could never have allowed it to claim that honor, otherwise a precedence would have been set of acknowledging that foreign films might be (gasp!) better than a lot of the [stuff] Tinseltown shovels out.

Personally, I watched the Oscars that year exclusively to cheer for Pelle the Conqueror and even more specifically for Max Von Sydow, who turned in the performance of a lifetime. From the moment I began watching the film to the moment it ended, I never lost my sense of absolute immersion. It was, in truth, a grueling experience... because like so many Scandinavian films, Pelle is not a "feel good" story and doesn't have a happy ending. It doesn't have a happy beginning or middle, either. I'm straining my memory to remember a full happy minute, actually. Max Von Sydow is so thoroughly convincing as the widower father of 12-year-old Pelle Hvenegaard that I couldn't help but bear his anguish as all his hopes for a better life for his son get trampled. Even though I was fairly young when the film came out, Von Sydow led me to understand a poor father's burden. When I saw this movie in the theater in 1988, I was told by a friend it was "part one" and that the subsequent film would give viewers a little more resolution as young Pelle escapes to try to reach America... I waited and waited for that sequel, because I believed in these characters and wanted a better life for them; that's how powerful the film was to me.

So why only 4 stars? Because the DVD (to date -- these things sometimes change) does not contain the whole film. 22 minutes were hacked from the original to fit into American time slots, and they were inexplicably not restored when the film went to DVD. The DVD also lacks special features such as "making of," background story, director's comments, etc. that would have been fascinating, especially considering this is such an epic foreign film from a country American viewers know so little about.

Moving Academy Award winning film about a Swedish widower and his son who emigrate to Denmark in the late 1800s to find work and a better life. What they find, though, is something else entirely. Brilliant performances by Max Von Sydow (an Oscar nominee for perhaps his greatest role as the widower) and 12-year-old Pelle Hvenegaard. This VHS version is in danish with English subtitles. Max Von Sydow dubbed his own role in the English language version (an option on the DVD version). At turns heart-rending and uplifting. Outstanding cinematography, filmed on location on the Danish island of Bornholm. One gripe : the original European release of this film was 160 minutes long; 22 minutes were cut for US release. Why couldn't those 22 minutes have been restored on either the VHS or especially the DVD? Most highly recommended!

This is a truly great movie. It demonstrates human emotions on a grand scale. It takes place around the turn of the century. A father (played by Von Sydow) and his son Pelle (played by Pelle Hvenegaard) are forced to travel from Sweden to Denmark in order to leave a life of poverty and despair (Pelle's mother died). Pelle is only 12, and his father is over 50. Only reluctantly does a farmer hire them (the father is too old, and the kid is too young). Little did they know that the life in Denmark was physically harsh and emotionally draining. Prejudice was common against the foreigners. Pelle is very dependent upon his emotionally weak father who will not defend his son and likes alcohol.

In the end, Pelle demonstates his strength beyond most adult men.

This movie is directed and produced so clearly and accurately that it draws you into the the harsh, physically filthy and emotionally draining life on the farm. Since it is filmed over the course of about one year, you need not doubt that the georgous scenery is real. The blizzard, the ice, and the fields are real. In fact, Pelle Hvenegaard was named 12 years before the production after Pelle from the novel. Pelle is an uncommon Swedish name. His acting was so good that one forgets this was a movie.

The ending put me in tears. Although it was somewhat predictable, it still packed an emotional punch. It took my breath away.

I can recommend this Academy Award winning movie to anyone.

I stumbled into Pelle by accident in the Bravo Channel a few days ago. I have not been able to get Pelle out of my mind. It is a beautiful movie about the hopelessness of life as a worker in a farm in Sweden. Pelle, the stableman's son hears about America and it becomes his dream. The scenery, the actors, specially Pelle and his dad are excellent. I watched the English dubbed version. Dubbing was well done. I just found out this is an older movie which was just recently dubbed in English. The best movie I have seen in a long time.

I had the opportunity to watch this movie while I was in college earning a degree in Scandinavian Studies. It was part of a required course, along with Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries, The Pathfinder, Babette's Feast, and My Life as a Dog (All of these are excellent movies).

My grandparents came to the US from Sweden and Denmark during the early part of the 20th century. Until I saw this movie, I did not understand why they chose to come here. Now I have a strong appreciation of what they went through to come to the US.

This movie is quite incredible. It is very difficult to watch, but not because of the direction/actors/story - but because it brings up multiple, complex topics that are dealt with in a way you probably have never seen before if you are used to watching movies with happy, tidy endings. Max Von Sydow, as usual, is excellent in this movie.

I am REALLY upset that this is not available! If you can get it, get the one without the dubbing - Dubbing is a very bad thing and you really do lose a lot in the translation.

This is one of my favorite movies; why is it out of release? The plot, simple but involving; the characters, so clearly drawn you feel you know them; the mood and art of the film - Scandinavian in simplicity and directness, yet beautiful and sensuous; and the ending, which always makes me both cry and be happy, are an unforgettable mix of movie perfection. Max von Sydow is incredible, as is Pelle. Please re-release this! (It won an Oscar, I think). Vastly unknown by the public and

underappreciated (Unlike the similar and also great "Babette's Feast")

This movie is an excellent example of why many European films are so superior to American movies! This brilliantly realized and at times haunting story is hard to forget. After the death of his wife, Lasse and his young son Pelle migrate from Sweden to Denmark in search of a better life for themselves. However, things don't go quite according to plan. I highly advise viewing this film to find out just what does happen to them. The cinematography is beautiful, the music evocative, and the acting is flawless. Add this to your film library - you won't be sorry!

Pelle the Conqueror is a great movie and can be seen as a movie that explains why Scandinavians migrated to the US. However the movie and the Martin Andersen Nexo books are really about the working class and what drove the Danes (and others) to set up the first labour unions. If you want to know what events made workers rebel, this is a movie that will show what went before labour rights in an inspiring and heart warming story.

PELLE THE CONQUEROR may now be twenty-three years old as a film but the power and beauty of this epic masterpiece from Denmark still retain the brilliance of its original 1987 theatrical release. Based on a four volume novel by Martin Andersen Nexø the screenplay by writer/director Bille August, Per Olov Enquist, and Bjarne Reuter granted takes only a small portion of the original story and that explains why so much of what happens in this 2 1/2 hour film is only vaguely explained, but the end result is a marvelous drama of the relationship of a father (Lassefar, brilliantly realized by the venerable Max von Sydow), who has pride but has not the courage of his convictions, and a son (Pelle, a masterpiece of young acting by Pelle Hvenegaard) who dreams of finding a life better than the bitterly poor existence he shares with the father he loves. The film takes place in Denmark near the turn of the 19th century over the course of a year and during that time the Pelle encounters peer prejudice from being a Swedish immigrant who has traveled to Denmark for the good life, class distinction between the wealthy landowners and the poverty stricken workers, the double standard of morals of the learned 'role models', death, physical abuse, young love between two lovely people who out of fear drown their infant at birth, the harsh realities of gathering sustenance from laboring the land and the sea, the bonds of true friendship with a bastard child of the land owner, and the disappointment of losing hope of conquering the world by means of accompanying a friend who must remain a vassal for two years who becomes brain damaged in an alteration with the foreman. Yet through all of these lessons Pelle learns about the survival of the fittest and despite all odds being against him, strikes out toward the frozen sea to await his ship of fortune.

This is a film about dreams and realities, about surviving physical and mental stresses, about adapting to the seasons and the struggles of indentured life. The stench of the farm and the grace of the snowfields are captured with amazing perfection by cinematographer Jörgen Persson and the mood of this film's story is accompanied by the music of Stefan Nilsson. The cast is huge and uniformly excellent, much due to the sensitive direction by Bille August. This is a classic film, one that is enjoyed more with repeated viewings. This is definitely one for the home library. Breathtaking. Grady Harp, July 10

Life on a hellish Danish farm for two Swedish immigrants in the 19th Century, an old widower (Max von Sydow) and his son Pelle.. The Swedish farm workers are treated like slaves by their debauched landowner. Von Sydow is as good a father as he can be, but he's old and wants nothing more than finding a woman to take care of him. Pelle wants to escape to America and freedom. Von Sydow is excellent as the old man, who is proud but weak. The movie, packed with character and incident, is like a triple-decker Victorian novel, with Pelle at the end going off to make his way in the world, leaving his father behind. Perhaps a bit too long (135 min.) with some of the incidents on the farm repetitious and overly drawn out. But, all in all, this is an excellent film. Worth a watch.