Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

You won't be disappointed!

Very well executed

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

I saw this film during it's original release almost 30 years ago and have held it in the highest regards ever since. I was curious to see it again and how it would hold up to the passage of time. I was very happy to find it as beautiful and inspiring as I did those many years ago, perhaps even more so. It's a truly beautiful film to look at. The stark landscapes, seasons, people, the farm and buildings, are all captured and expressed so naturally and lyrically. All of the performances are solid but the two leads are really great and generate a real depth to the story. As for the story itself, it's expressed with such simplicity that it feels poetic.

I wanted to really like this. I really did. Luscious scenery, amazing long shots, admirable mise en scène, lovely cinematography. Excellent acting from the two main actors. First, the well known Max von Sydow as a frustratingly timid father that we somehow hate while loving. Through Sydow's skilled performance, we can see how much he loves his son, yet not enough to overcome his cowardliness. Then we have young Pelle, played by Pelle Hvenegaard. No, not a complete coincidence. The actor was actually named after the character he is playing; the film is based on Martin Andersen Nexø's 1906 novel by the same name, Volume 1/4. Maybe this motivated the actor to give such an impressive debut performance. Aside from all this, however, the sum is less than its parts. This coming of age story has very little humor and even less moments to truly smile during. One terrible thing after another, the only predictable thing being that something else bad or worse is sure to come next. I have never been one to demand or even ask for fairy tale endings. Indeed, I actually appreciate the more realistic examinations of life. Unfortunately, there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this, and somehow "Pelle the Conquerer" fell short. During the course of the film, young Pelle is tormented by his schoolmates and humiliated by the apprentice overseer; a girl gives birth to her employer's son's bastard child and is dragged off to prison for murdering it; the son, who really killed the baby, sacrifices himself while trying to rescue a ship in a storm; some new emigrants turn up frozen to death in a boat, the local mutant halfwit lets Pelle whip him with stinging nettles for half a crown; the only rebellious farmhand gets bashed in with a rock and turned into a shuffling retard; the landowner's miserable wife lobs her husband's penis (Yes, you read correctly); Lasse thinks he will have a cushy berth married to a comfortable widow but her husband comes back alive; the halfwit runs away to the sideshow; the schoolmaster drops dead in class and Pelle finally decides enough is enough and leaves through the snowy wastes to an indefinite future chronicled in three more books and presumably future films. Except there are no other films; only the books.The result is a film that was not paced well, with many what the ? moments and a whole lot of depressing ones. The good did not outweigh the bad in this film that could have been far better.

The end of the 19th century. A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who move to Denmark to find work. They find employment at a large farm, but are treated as the lowest form of life."Pelle the Conqueror" won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 1988; it was submitted to the Academy by the Danish government, giving Denmark its second consecutive win after "Babette's Feast". Max von Sydow was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost to Dustin Hoffman for "Rain Man".First of all, well done Denmark on the back-to-back wins. Few people discuss the "Danish film industry", but it appears that at least for a few years it was going strong. (I suppose people tend to include it as a broader category, the Scandinavian film industry.) Max von Sydow is one of my favorite actors and he deserves all the nominations and awards he can get. I can accept him losing to Dustin Hoffman, though. "Rain Man" is not just a great film with a great role, but unlike most Oscar movies has become part of our popular culture.

I guess I can write a complete book as a review of this film. I can't even believe such a story could so perfectly complete every point of what a perfect film must be and an excellent story and a perfect lesson of wisdom and life in the same time, just 150'. It's one of the top five best films I've ever seen. I could only compare it with the all wonders of mankind throughout History. I'll never forget many scenes of the film (even my usual absolute lack of memory) and the magic night I saw it with my family (that time 2 boys of 9 and 12 years, and my wife) we got stared from start to end, in complete silence, enjoying every moment in full expectation, the kids understood perfectly all the film, also my wife and me (of course I cried for me in silence). We saw the film in the LCD screen of my PC in my office room; we were first having the new LCD monitor, not so comfortably sitting, and a little close to the screen, but all that didn't mind. We got one of the deepest gathering unforgettable emotion of our whole family lives. Advice: Watch the film in calm silence, better in Winter, better by night, not in bed. Expect some day justice is made to the film, director and actors, giving it the celebrity it deserves.