Sweet Land (2005)

Sweet Land: Directed by Ali Selim. With Elizabeth Reaser, Lois Smith, Patrick Heusinger, Stephen Pelinski. In 1920, Inge, a German national, travels from Norway to rural Minnesota for her arranged marriage to Olaf, a Norwegian farmer; bureaucracy and prejudice cause major complications.

“And I think thatu0026#39;s what many viewers pass their ultimate judgment on – what they think the movie is about.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe actual movie, though, falls far short. Let me count the ways.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s pace, if there is one, is glacial.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOlaf, for most of the movie is beyond shy and retiring, heu0026#39;s border line retarded.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe minister hates Inge with a passion, then does a 180, decides he loves the girl, based on….what? Seeing her work hard in the corn field? The neighbors raise $7,000 and give it to Olaf so Olaf can keep his farm? No, to keep his neighboru0026#39;s farm, which he bought without any money. When his u0026#39;bidu0026#39; was the highest, all the banker lets the other bidders, the ones with real money, take off, despite knowing that Olaf does have anywhere near enough money.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the other hand, viewers were fortunate enough to see what was probably the prettiest immigrant girl who came across the ocean. Lucky Olaf.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe general concept could have resulted in a really sweet movie – the actual story line was thread bear.”