PELLE THE CONQUEROR Movie Review

This is an overpowering tale of a Swedish boy (Pelle Hvenegaard) and his widower father (Max von Sydow) who serve landowners in late 19th-century Denmark. Director Bille August's compassionate saga of the human spirit contains many wonderfully conceived, aria-like sequences of hardship, tragedy, and intrigue, all of them anchored on the stunning performances of young Hvenegaard and, in particular, von Sydow. The demands of this film seemed to bring out something new in von Sydow, though he's long been one of our great screen actors. Here, his exceptional power and sympathy as Papa Lasse suggest the unintended summation of a career, and if this should be the film he's ultimately remembered by (which would be a trick, considering his long partnership with Ingmar Bergman), he can be extremely proud. It's a magnificent, wonderfully conceived performance. Unfortunately, Pelle the Conqueror was trimmed for U.S. release by more than 20 minutes following its capture of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The New York Film Festival ran the full version as well, but it was cut immediately afterwards for theatrical release. Some films can weather such cuts well (some even improve by them, though you didn't read that here) but Pelle’s rhythm and cumulative narrative force were unnecessarily wounded by the inflicted cuts; it's worth searching for a complete, 160-minute version on video. Based on Martin Anderson Nexo's celebrated four-volume novel. Academy Award Winner, Best Foreign Language Film; Nomination to von Sydow for Best Actor.

NEXT STOP … The Emigrants, The New Land, Jerusalem

1988 160m/C SW DK Max von Sydow, Pelle Hvenegaard, Erik Paaske, Bjorn Granath, Axel Strobye, Astrid Villaume, Troels Asmussen, John Wittig, Anne Lise Hirsch Bjerrum, Kristina Tornqvist, Morten Jorgensen; D: Bille August; W: Bille August. Academy Awards ‘88: Best Foreign Film; Cannes Film Festival ‘88: Best Film; Golden Globe Awards ‘89: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘88: Best Actor (von Sydow). VHS,LV HBO