Das neue Land (1972)

Das neue Land: Directed by Jan Troell. With Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg, Pierre Lindstedt. A Swedish immigrant family struggle to establish a new life for themselves in the forest of Minnesota in the mid 19th Century.

“Utvandrarna and Nybyggarnan n The Swedish film Utvandrarna was shown in the U.S. with the title The Emigrants (1971). The film Nybyggarna was shown with the title The New Land (1972). Both movies were co-written and directed by Jan Troell. Troell was also the cinematographer and the editor of both. (Sounds crazy, but he did it.)n n The films are actually one long film, broken in half so that each could be seen separately. n n As can be guessed from the titles, the first film sets up the plot by showing us that, despite intelligence and hard work, many families couldnu0026#39;t make a living on the small plots of land in Sweden. The second film follows the family from Sweden to the United States. n n The situation for them in the U.S. isnu0026#39;t that much better when they arrive, but they have reasonable hope that they will succeed.n n Max von Sydow plays the husband, Karl Oskar, and Liv Ullmann plays his wife, Kristina. Both are extraordinarily talented. In addition, Von Sydow is handsome, and Ullmann is impossibly beautiful.n n The remainder of the cast is strong, and the acting by the children is wonderful.n n These movies will work better on the large screen, but we had to settle for the small screen. Both films carry very high IMDb rating of 8.0. I gave each a 10.”