Pelle the Conqueror

1987
7.8| 2h37m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 21 December 1987 Released
Producted By: Det Danske Filminstitut
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Bille August

Production Companies

Det Danske Filminstitut

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Pelle the Conqueror Audience Reviews

TinsHeadline Touches You
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Listonixio Fresh and Exciting
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
chaswe-28402 No relief in this one. No let up. The conqueror escapes to nothing, nowhere; a wintry, frozen and empty sea-shore. Max can act, no question. So can Pelle the boy. The direction consummates the never-ending grimness and daily grind of the emigrant labourer, paid 100 kronor a year, about £10. It's virtual slavery, though the bodies are not sold. These slaves are especially abused and exploited because they are foreign. Life continues, a living death.Undeniably effective, but who would want to watch this twice ? Joylessness squared. Unpunished rape, unwanted child-murder, bullying, crippling poverty, death and decay. An existential inferno, where hope is eventually abandoned. What benefit is to be gained from seeing this relentless, unrelieved misery ? I give it eight stars, because it's a powerful movie, but recommend no-one to watch it. One flaw: the boy's dubbed American accent was annoying. It was out-of-place. The only man capable of bringing a little lightness to the company, with his musical squeeze-box, gets bludgeoned into mindless inanity.
gavin6942 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.
Sindre Kaspersen Danish screenwriter, producer and director Bille August's fifth feature film which he co-wrote with Danish author and screenwriter Bjarne Reuter, Swedish author Per Olov Enquist and Swedish author Max Lundgren (1937-2005), is based on the first part of a tetralogy novel from 1906-1910 by Danish writer Martin Andersen Nexø (1869-1964). It premiered in Sweden and Denmark, was screened In competition at the 41st Cannes International Film Festival in 1988, was shot on location in Sjælland and Bornholm in Denmark and is a Sweden-Denmark co-production which was produced by Danish producer Per Holst. It tells the story about Pelle and his father whom he calls Lassefar who during the late 1800s travels from Tommelilla in Sweden to the Danish Island of Bornholm with a group of Swedish emigrants in the hopes of a better life and ends up living in a barn at a place called Stengården which is managed by an exploitative boss and his complaisant son.Finely and precisely directed by Danish filmmaker Bille August, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a tangible and heartrending portrayal of a relationship between a widowed middle-aged man and his adolescent son, a degrading manager and his unruly employee and a young woman and man who's romance is damned and forbidden by the man's father due to their class differences. While notable for it's naturalistic and distinct milieu depictions, fine production design by production designer Anna Asp, exquisite cinematography by Swedish cinematographer Jörgen Persson and fine costume design by Swedish production designer and costume designer Kicki Illander, this character-driven and narrative-driven story which examines themes like survival, human dignity, friendship, prospects and the human condition, depicts two empathic and interrelated studies of character and contains a good score by Swedish composer Stefan Nilsson.This historic, at times romantic and literary coming-of-age tale which is set in the late 19th century on an Island in the east of Denmark in the Baltic Sea, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, various characters and the reverent acting performances by Swedish actor Max Von Sydow, Danish actor and writer Pelle Hvenegaard in his debut feature film role, Swedish actor Björn Granath, Danish actress Astrid Villaume (1923-1995) and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt in his second feature film role. An epic, humane, atmospheric and heartfelt period drama from the late 1980s which gained, among numerous other awards, the European Film Award for Best European Actor Max Von Sydow at the 1st European Film Awards in 1988, the award for Best Young Actor in A Foreign Film Pelle Hvenegaard at the 10th Youth In Film Awards in 1989 and the Palme d'or at the 41st Cannes Film Festival in 1988.
ediklau 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.