Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

 

Pelle Erobreren

“Pelle Erobreren” (“Pelle the Conqueror”) is an entry on the Danish version of the List (replaces “Princess Bride”). It is based on a book that is very famous in Denmark by author Martin Andersen Nexø, a fellow we were always tormented by in literature classes in my youth, and catapulted director Bille August into international stardom. Though I have known about the movie since it came out, I never had the courage to sit through its reputed 2 hours and 40 minutes of misery.

Lasse Karlsson (Max von Sydow) is a poor Swedish farmworker who, upon being a widower, emigrates to the Danish island of Bornholm with his young son, Pelle (Pelle Hvenegaard). It is the middle of the nineteenth century and at this time farmwork was all manual labour, which required many hands, which in turn was available at low cost. Lasse and Pelle get hired on Stengården, owned by Kongstrup (Axel Strøbye) with the day-to-day operation in the hands of the brutal steward (Erik Påske).

Life as farmhands on Stengården is hard work, full of humiliations, random punishments and unfair treatment. Being the lowest of the lowest, Swedish farmhands get no protection anywhere. Lasse knows this, lowers his shoulders and accepts, but it is harder for Pelle to accept this, and he keeps ending up in situations where his position makes him lose.

The movie is episodical and takes us through a string of events in Pelle’s years on Stengården. There is his interaction with Rud (Troels Asmussen), a boy in, if possible, worse conditions than Pelle, with Erik (Björn Granath), a fellow Swede who dreams of going to Sweden and rebels against the treatment he gets, but ends up brain damaged in an accident, and the other children in school, who torments Pelle in ways that may threaten his life.

While we learn early on that Kongstrup has fathered several bastard children (including Rud), it gets really disgusting when he impregnates his own niece, Jomfru Sine (Sofie Gråbøl in a very early role), who is suddenly not so much jomfru (virgin) anymore. It is not that Kongstrup is evil, he just does not care about others, and nobody is to stop him from doing what he feels like.

This is of course a political story, telling of the appalling conditions the working people on the countryside lived under in those days. Sort of “Novocento” without the screaming. Martin Andersen Nexø was exactly that, so it comes as no surprise. What may be surprising though is the tone of the movie. Rather than going for the dramatic, it is almost resigned and apathetic in the apparent acceptance of the gross injustices being thrown at us. It is melancholia rather than anger that we feel as Lasse and Pelle are powerless against a cruel fate. The message is of course that it should not be like that, but in the headspace of Lasse, there is no real alternative. The world is stuck and any attempt at improvement is doomed and will send you right back to where you came from.

Pacing may be a problem with this movie. Its long run time and the time it allows itself to tell the story is straining, but there are also many episodes to cover and what the movie lacks in pacing, it serves in intensity. Especially Max von Sydow is incredibly convincing as Lassefar. He is a simple character, but Sydow becomes this character in a way that is almost scary. He was indeed nominated as Best Actor at the Academy Awards for this performance and that was well deserved. This great actor only received two nominations in his glorious career.

There are a few technical mysteries like Pelle’s amazing feat in learning Danish with a native accent in a matter a few months or how the good people of Bornholm, known for their very special and strong accent, in this movie uses a variety of accents covering most of the country, but, one the other hand, the visuals are flawless. This looks authentic through and through, the harbour, the boats, the farm, the cloth, even the food they eat. Very impressive.

“Pelle Erobreren” is a big movie, a movie that covers a lot of ground and which requires something of the viewer, but it is also a rewarding movie, if you can live with the pacing. It went on to win the Palme D’Or in Cannes and Best Foreign Language movie at the Academy Awards, but for some reason, it did not qualify for the international version of the List. I can think of a few movies I would have sacrificed to make room for this one.

Highly recommended, especially if you are interested in conditions on the Danish countryside in the mid-nineteenth century or want to watch Max von Sydow at his best.