The settling of the United States is a story often told in Hollywood. But for every exquisite film (Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller), there is fantastical crap ( Far and Away) that romanticizes what must have been one very difficult chapter in our country’s history. Leave it to Swedish director Jan Troell to create what is likely the best two films not only about the taming of America, but the immigrant experience.
Based on the novels of Vilhelm Moberg, Troell’s The Emigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972) come together as a six-and-a-half-hour saga that chronicles the migration of a group of Swedish immigrants as they cross the Atlantic Ocean and settle in Minnesota in the mid-19th century. Only Troell’s third and fourth feature films, The Emigrants/The New Land should be mentioned in the same breath as other great epics like The Godfather and the The Lord of the Rings series.
The story, which must have been grueling to shoot without CGI, begins on a small farm in Sweden. We meet an older farmer named Nils (Sven-Olof Bern) as he’s toiling away to make ends meet. The land is unforgiving, almost as oppressive as the Lutheran regime that keeps the community under its grip of piety. In an extended opening, Nils is severely injured, leaving oldest son Karl Oskar (Max von Sydow) in charge. Troell hammers home just how onerous life is here as Karl Oskar struggles to make the farm viable. Soon, he marries Kristina (Liv Ullmann) and they begin to have children. Also struggling is Karl Oskar’s younger brother, Robert (Eddie Axberg). A dreamer who would rather spend his days reading, Robert is constantly in trouble with his employer, a local farmer, who beats the young man for his transgressions. Tired of his lot, Robert dreams of America, an ideal that Karl Oskar soon warms to as life on the farm grows unbearable.
They embark on the great journey, bringing others from the community, including the dim-witted Arvid (Pierre Lindstedt), Kristina’s uncle Danjel (Allan Edwall) and Ulrika (Monica Zetterlund). Each is persecuted and ready to flee: Arvid works with Robert and is harassed by the farmer; Danjel is a self-stylized preacher who is hounded by the Lutheran majority; and Ulrika is a whore who finds refuge with Danjel and his family. Troell tests the mettle of each character during an extended sequence at sea. There they battle scurvy, poor rations and seasickness. In a long film, a director has time to stretch out and during this sequence in particular Troell takes full advantage. He wants us to understand the interminable amount of time it took to cross the ocean and, like his characters, we appreciate the sight of land on the horizon. The Emigrants ends with the stirring moment when Karl Oskar claims his property. The New Land picks up immediately after.
Although the characters are the main focus of The Emigrants/The New Land, the land also plays a major role. Troell juxtaposes the sepulchral Swedish farm with the open beauty of Minnesota. He fills the screen with images of nature: trees, birds, lakes and rivers. It’s as if Troell wants the audience to share in the wonder and appreciation the immigrants’ experience once they’ve finally arrived. Troell packs a lot into the first half. While it may feel languid in some places, The Emigrants is also an elliptical film. Troell, who wrote the screenplay with Bengt Forslund, lets his movie breathe and flow, allowing us to fill in the story’s gaps. This rhythm changes somewhat in The New Land. An extended sequence where Robert and Arvid set off on a disastrous journey to California to hunt for gold may feel oddly out of synch with what comes before, but it works as its own little suite. If the first film felt more like an ensemble piece, The New Land focuses on the fates of Karl Oskar and Kristina. While Karl Oskar has settled into life in Minnesota, Kristina longs for home. The hard life has taken a toll on her. So does giving birth to multiple children. Their marriage begins to fray, especially when Karl Oskar, always one for duty, attempts to volunteer to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Both von Sydow and Ullmann, favorites of Ingmar Bergman and who had shared the screen multiple times before this epic, turn in outstanding performances. The progression of their relationship is believable, even when they make a decision that could cost Kristina her life. Troell eventually makes the point that through all the strife and struggle to prosper, the ties that keep Karl Oskar and Kristina together are the most important. He allows us to celebrate their successes and mourn their losses. There is even a harrowing scene that George Lucas may have noticed 10 years before The Empire Strikes Back debuted.
The Emigrants/The New Land feels like a great novel. Long films are adventures, especially when done well. Before binge-watching was ever a thing, Troell trusted his audience to appreciate a well-told story as it slowly unspools. Although the films were much lauded upon their release, even earning Oscar nominations, they have never been considered in the canon of great cinema. The time has come to re-evaluate these masterpieces. They feel like living, breathing documents of a time long gone.
The post Rediscover: The Emigrants/The New Land appeared first on Spectrum Culture.