The Emigrants (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Emigrants (Utvandrarna) is a 1971 film directed by Jan Troell. It tells the story of a Swedish group who emigrate from Småland, Sweden to Minnesota, United States in the 19th century. The film follows the hardship of the group in Sweden and on the trip.
The movie is based on the first two novels of the The Emigrants suite by Vilhelm Moberg: The Emigrants and Unto a Good Land. It was adapted to the screen by Bengt Forslund and Jan Troell. The Emigrants stars Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann in the lead, along with Eddie Axberg, Sven-Olof Bern, Aina Alfredsson, Allan Edwall, Monica Zetterlund and Pierre Lindstedt. Americans in general and those of Scandinavian extraction especially will find these films helpful in understanding their own past. The film itself is a family's odyssey from rural poverty in Sweden to a new life in Minnesota, without the gloss one expects from films intended for American audiences, yet sympathetic to the people whose deepest desire was the material security which land plus their hard work and sacrifice might obtain.The film's depictions of the settlers' interactions with native Americans takes no sides, showing both the atrocities committed against the settlers in the Dakota wars as well as the hardships visited on the Indians culminating in the mass hanging of many Dakotas by Abraham Lincoln's government.
The Emigrants was nominated for four Academy Awards:
- Best Picture
- Best Director (Jan Troell)
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Liv Ullmann)
- Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
The Emigrants was followed by a 1972 sequel, "The New Land" ("Nybyggarna"), with the same cast.
See also
- Lindstrom, Minnesota
- the sequel The New Land
- Vilhelm Moberg
