Pelle the Conqueror

Directed by Bille August
Film Movement Classics
1987
150 Minutes
Denmark, Sweden
Danish, Swedish
Drama, Classics
PG-13
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Lasse, an elderly and widowed farmer, and his young son Pelle, join a boat-load of immigrants to escape from impoverished rural Sweden to Denmark's Baltic island of Bornholm. They are employed at a large farm in Denmark, where they are treated as the lowest of the low. It is ultimately their loving relationship which sustains them through a difficult year.

Cast

  • Pelle Hvenegaard
  • Max von Sydow
  • Björn Granath
DVD Features

Commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie.
New Essay by Terrence Rafferty

Sound: Stereo 2.0

Discs: 1

Blu-ray Features

Commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie.
New Essay by Terrence Rafferty

Sound: Stereo 2.0

Discs: 1

  • Highest Rating
    "In Bille August's "Pelle the Conqueror," Max von Sydow is so astoundingly evocative that he makes your bones ache."
    Hal Hinson, The Washington Post
  • Highest Rating
    "CRITIC"S PICK. The von Sydow performance is in a category by itself. It is another highlight in an already extraordinary career, and quite unlike anything that American audiences have seen him do to date."
    Vincent Canby, The New York Times
  • Highest Rating
    "[T]he film is a towering achievement, grueling in its portrayal of a harsh existence yet ultimately an exhilarating experience unlikely to be forgotten."
    Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Awards & Recognition

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