Sweet Land (2005)

Admirable film.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Well written, acted and just a stunning and moving film. The soundtrack also helps to draw us in and move us along in this very real story of two people who find love through many trials, some wholly unnecessary. Give huge kudos to Elizabeth Reaser for her noteworthy efforts in bringing Inge to life. Tom Guinee as Olaf also does a great job at making us feel his isolation, determination and especially how he falls in love with Inge, as well as his naiveté and shyness. I particularly liked the way the film begins in the near present, moves back into the past and then ends in the real present - well handled and effective storytelling. The locations and cinematography also make this film a must-see movie. Really, it is surprising, and saddening, that such a beautiful film got so little notice.

In late 1967, Inge (Lois Smith) loses her husband Olaf. Later on after she dies in the Minnesota family farmhouse, her grandson Lars is offered $2.2M for the land. Lars is conflicted as he recalls his grandfather's wake when Inge told him about her life with Olaf. It starts with Inge Altenberg (Elizabeth Reaser) arriving on the train carrying her phonograph in 1920. She's Norwegian who speaks little English. She is arranged to marry the reserved Olaf Torvik (Tim Guinee) although she mistakes the talkative Frandsen (Alan Cumming) as Olaf at the beginning. Her German background and a misunderstanding about the socialist party cause trouble for the couple. The Lutheran minister (John Heard) refuses to marry them and the county clerk has only bureaucratic red tapes. Harmo (Ned Beatty) is Frandsen's wife's rich banker cousin who owns the grain elevator. She is forced to stay with Frandsen and his much more capable wife Brownie (Alex Kingston) with their vast number of kids. She eventually stays at Olaf's while he sleeps in the barn. Harmo is foreclosing on Frandsen's farm anyways.There are so many touching moments. Each scene is written to its most powerful in a simple way like the picture of Olaf which she carries but the crease goes right through his face. Even her important picture is taken with the only piece of film that they had. And the girl that lost everything before she even arrived is heart breaking. The language barrier is so powerful in both drama and comedy. Both Elizabeth Reaser and Tim Guinee play it seriously which allows the humor to come right through. It is romantic and compelling. It is truly a sweet romance.

My Grandparents are of Norwegian ancestry, and their parents, homesteaded in a Norwegian populated area in North Dakota. I've been to the "farm" and never really knew how hard the life was. I had heard about the discrimination of Germans at that time, although they began in the 1890's. Hard work aside, what a beautiful life, a new frontier and God blessed as they were to have each other till death did they part. They are both buried on the farm. And the phrase Olav uses, "banking and farming don't mix" was something I heard my Grandfather say many times. I only wish I had known them, heard their stories. When I was there I saw the old place, where they are laid to rest and did little more than climb a haystack, milk a cow and a goat, and ride a horse. Bravo. What a lovely film.

Upon watching the film and even after, it was quite different from anything I have seen about how the Germans were treated in the United States after the First World War. Watching the film, and seeing how the town minister acted upon learning the woman was from Germany, it seemed as though he promoted bigotry, and as a minister of the word of God, he really has no place doing so (one man's opinion), but I guess things happened like this no matter what. The reason I felt the way I did, which is in favor of the German woman, was because what real harm could she really possess? I mean, my family came from Germany before the turn of the last century, so I would assume that they could have had this bigotry happen to them, which makes me feel the way I do about the woman in the film. I believe if I had been alive during the time period portrayed in the film, I would have most likely been an outcast as well, for my beliefs could weigh me down. The Lord says we should accept people as they are, and I know I haven't done my best to suit such, but when two people love each other, as these two in the film came to do, doubt shouldn't be about.Even the world in which we live, there are cynics and there are lovers, the best of which are those that love. I know people from each side of the aisle, so to say, and they each have a great argument, but at the end of the day God teaches us to love unconditionally, which sometimes is hard to do and therefore, I know what the minister was going through. It's all a part of each of our lives that we have to outgrow. God willing, we can learn to love and accept without end.