Review of Pelle the Conqueror

If any film ever deserves a sequel, "Pelle the Conqueror" is it. In the admirable winner of both the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film, Max von Sydow (in his only Oscar nominated performance) is Lasse, a Swedish middle- aged widower who takes his young son Pelle from impoverished ninetieth century Sweden to Denmark in search and hope of finding a better life. Because of his age and lack of any specific job skills, Lasse is forced to become a laborer on a farm, with Pelle helping him out. You know, when my family and I first came to America in 1991, one of our new friends, himself a "new American" told us one thing that I always remember, "No matter what, every immigrant is going to eat a lot of dirt, some - more, some- less". Lasse and Pelle of Billie August's superb drama had been served plenty of that meal – they had to sleep in a former chicken coop, they are poor, Pelle is bullied by kids at the local school. Lasse meets a nice local woman whose husband has been lost at sea and wants to marry her but the husband returns…Lasse and his son will go through many of cruelties and indignities together but they always remain devoted to each other. Their relationship is not only of a son and his father but also of two loyal friends. In the end, Pelle has realized that the farm is no place for him, and I want to know what happens to him and to his father next – but there is no sequel for this involving, moving, and simply magnificent movie yet. 9.5/10