The Emigrants (1971)

Directed by Jan Troell. Starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg, Aina Alfredsson, Sven-Olof Bern, Monica Zetterlund, Allan Edwall, Pierre Lindstedt, Gustaf Färingborg, Åke Fridell, Ulla Smidje. [PG]

Wide-scope yet intimate saga of poor Swedish workers and their families who tire of their hard, hungry lives and choose to venture westward for a new life in America. A moving film, grimly realistic yet humane, and told in a sprawling fashion; meandering, too, with focus unwisely shifting among too many characters in the early-going, and spending too long in the homeland (roughly half the running time) when the more involving segments come during the long sea voyage and the trek across a bustling country so they can settle in Minnesota. Von Sydow (as a stubborn father with noble dreams) and Ullman (as his uncertain and anxious wife) are—no surprise—the stand-outs of a good cast. Director Troell also photographed the movie, using sun-drenched scenery and rock-strewn soil of the unyielding farmlands to give everything a rustic, earthy quality fitting for the hard-living would-be settlers. Followed by the companion piece sequel The New Land that continues the story of the characters who survived the arduous journey.

78/100