Denmark, 19th century. The 12-year old Pelle and his old father Lasse Karlsson arrive via a ship as immigrants from a Swedish town in search for a job. They are picked up at the harbor by a foreman and hired to work at a farm led by the rich Kongstrup. The two take care of the cows and the harvest, while Pelle is bullied in school by other kids for not knowing Danish that well and for being a "cuckoo's egg" because his father has a relationship with Mrs. Olsen, whose husband, a sailor, is presumed dead because he is missing for a year. When Olsen's husband returns one winter, Lasse's plans are again ruined. A worker, Erik, is bullied by the foreman and rebels, but is hit in the head by a stone attached to the well pump. Erik promises Pelle to escape with him to America in two years, but since Erik is injured, he is fired from the farm. Lasse doesn't want to leave the farm, and thus Pelle has to leave into the unknown all by himself.
The critically recognized adaptation of the first volume of Martin Andersen Nexø's eponymous novel, Bille August's "Pelle the Conqueror" is an ambitious, intelligent, cultured, elevated and patient film depiction of poverty, work exploitation and growing up of a Swedish immigrant boy working in a farm in Denmark, serving both as a chronicle of that era as well as a broader depiction of some universal traits in every generation (the confusion of growing up; kids bullying other kids in school; yearning for a better life and future). Defying the typical three-act structure imposed by Hollywood, August instead builds the film as a 'slice-of-life' story composed out of episodes, yet they all work as a cohesive set of bricks that build this storyline, and a lot of praise should be given to its two main actors, the young newcomer Pelle Hvenegaard as the title hero, and especially the veteran Max von Sydow as the hapless father Lasse who ultimately "gives up" and resentfully accepts his "life trap" as a man without a wife, without a good job, without a home, without any future: the actor gives this character more dignity than others would have.
There are several interesting moments and dialogues which make "Pelle" engaging throughout, despite its running time of 2.5 hours: for instance, the comments regarding the rich farm owner ("He fathered children to every woman except his wife") or Lasse scorning the sick Pelle who jumped into the ice sea ("If he had drowned, I would have beaten him up senseless!"); or the illustration of the cheapskate foreman who prepares only an ordinary meal for a holiday for the over dozen workers—one worker, Erik, protests ("You could have bought us pork at least for Christmas!"), is expelled out by the foreman, but Erik then takes a harmonica and defiantly starts playing the song "Silent Night" in the snow, much to the amusement of the workers. It is not surprising that some film critics deciphered socialist themes in the story about the plight of these poor farmers. Everything in "Pelle" is done right, yet it somehow feels as if something is missing, as if it is too schematic. The story is conventionally great, the dialogues are conventionally great, the direction is conventionally great—but one wishes that some outburst of unconventional greatness would have happened in the film which would have made it genuinely greater.
Grade:+++
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