PELLE THE CONQUEROR
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
A riveting film, a work of art. From the first frames where out of an opaque fog there appear the dim outlines of the masts of a schooner, the film is a masterpiece of photography and story telling.
The time is about the early 1900s. Huddled on the ship are immigrants from Sweden who are going to Denmark for work because of bad times in Sweden. Among the passengers is an older man (Max Von Sydow), a widower since a year, and his 10-year-old son, Pelle (Pelle Hvenegaard).
The father tells Pelle that in this new land children do not have to work. They can spend their time at play. But we soon see that it is all bravado. Father is a loser. Whether because of circumstances or of an innate lack of character it becomes apparent that Father meets each challenge by backing down. On the other hand one must feel sorry for this pathetic man because he cannot afford to take risks.
On the dock people are being hired. Not surprisingly, he is the last one to be chosen, along with his son. It appears to be some kind of indentured servitude; lodging and food, and after several years there is the payoff in money and becoming a free man. Lodging for Pelle and his father consists of a partitioned portion of the barn, next to the cattle and the chickens, hardly the life he had described to his son.
Running through the film are several other stories that blend with the main one, each interesting in its own right. There is the fascinating tale of the beautiful young working woman who is in love with a merchant's son; there is the dream of one worker of being free the next year and of going to America to make his fortune about which, poor man, he has no doubts.
Throughout, the photography is beautiful, with scenes that are sheer Breughel or Millet. Other scenes, with snow blowing icily across the fields, convey the bitter cold. And there is the raging sea, the fog, the broken floating ice floes all interwoven to emphasize the hardships all must face in that climate. You will marvel at the nastiness of adults and children, alike, when they have the power to impose their will on those not in a position to fight back. A powerful masterpiece of man's inhumanity to man.
In Danish and Swedish with English subtitles.
Directed by Bille August.
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Ben Hoffman
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