The New Land (1972 film)

1972 film

The New Land (Nybyggarna) is a 1972 Swedish film co written and directed by Jan Troell and starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg, Allan Edwall, Monica Zetterlund, and Pierre Lindstedt. It and its 1971 predecessor, The Emigrants (Utvandrarna), which were produced concurrently, are based on Vilhelm Moberg's The Emigrants, a series of four novels about poor Swedes who emigrate from Småland, Sweden, in the mid 19th century and make their home in Minnesota. This film is based on the latter two novels of the series (The Settlers (1956) and The Last Letter Home (1959)). It explores the struggles of the emigrants to establish a settlement on the frontier and adjust to life in America. Like The Emigrants, The New Land was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The 1974 American television series The New Land is loosely based on The Emigrants and this film.

In 1850, Karl Oskar Nilsson, his wife Kristina, and their three children, along with Karl Oskar's younger brother Robert and Robert's friend Arvid, arrive in what is now known as the Chisago Lakes area in Minnesota after enduring an arduous sea and overland trip from Sweden. The family initially shelters in a shanty and Karl Oskar puts all of his energy and resources into building a more permanent house. He begins clearing the land of the pine trees, and, with the help of Robert, Arvid, and some of their Swedish neighbors, completes a small farmhouse before winter. At the housewarming party, the assembled Swedish settlers, which include Danjel, Kristina's uncle, and Ulrika, now a close friend to Kristina, discuss whether they regret emigrating. Kristina, feeling homesick, bursts into tears. Kristina, aided by Ulrika, gives birth to a son, who she names Danjel after her uncle. Ulrika later marries Pastor Jackson, a friendly Baptist minister who lives in a nearby town. Pious Lutheran neighbors attempt to persuade Kristina and Karl Oskar to shun her due to this, but they refuse. Robert and Arvid leave for the West to seek their fortune in the California Gold Rush. After several years, Robert returns alone to Karl Oskar's farm. He gives his brother and Kristina a big stack of banknotes. Having felt that Karl Oskar looked down on him, Robert says that the money is only a small part of what he got for the gold he found. Via flashbacks, it is revealed that he also suffered a series of misfortunes. After working their way west, Robert and Arvid got lost in the desert while looking for a stray pack donkey. Arvid died after drinking poisoned water. Robert was rescued by their Hispanic guide, who took him to a village in the Sierra Nevada. When the guide caught yellow fever, Robert nursed him, despite being warned of the risk. Before the guide died, he gave Robert a sack of coins. After spending some time on his own in a small town, Robert exchanged the coins for lighter banknotes and headed back to Minnesota. Karl Oskar discovers that Robert has been cheated, as the banknotes are worthless. Robert is distraught and, having refused to seek medical help for a persistent cough, dies a short time later. In the following years, Karl Oskar becomes an American citizen and tries to volunteer to serve in the Civil War, but he is rejected because of his limp. Kristina still misses Sweden, and is glad that her husband won't serve as a soldier and become a murderer. She gives birth to two more children, Ulrika and Frank, after which a doctor advises her that, after so many children, another pregnancy will kill her. Deciding to leave her fate in the hands of God, Kristina continues relations with Karl Oskar and becomes pregnant again She suffers several miscarriages. She falls ill when the Dakota War of 1862 breaks out. Pushed out of their territories, the starving Dakota people rose up and killed hundreds of settlers across Minnesota. Among the dead are Uncle Danjel, his eldest son, and his pregnant daughter in law. Karl Oskar is by Kristina's bed as she dies. The US Army puts down the uprising, and President Abraham Lincoln approves the mass execution of 38 Dakota warriors, a singular event in Mankato. Overwhelmed by grief, widower Karl Oskar withdraws into solitude as his children grow up and start families of their own. He often visits Kristina's grave overlooking the lake. Kristina's grave marker reads: "We Shall Meet Again". He tends the plot and can hear hammering sounds from the work of numerous other Swedes who have begun moving into the area. Karl Oskar dies on 7 December 1890. His children have become more American and forgotten most of their Swedish language. A neighbor, Axel J. Andersson, writes a letter to Karl Oskar's sister Lydia in Sweden to inform her of his death. Included with the letter and visible to viewers is a family photograph showing Karl Oskar surrounded by his many children and grandchildren.

Actress Liv Ullmann said that The New Land was filmed concurrently with The Emigrants over the course of a year. The cast members spent days in the fields to portray farming, particularly for The New Land. Ullmann said that, after three days of this, she began to feel exhausted. The film was shot at Filmstaden in Stockholm, as well as in Småland and Skåne in Sweden and Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Colorado in the United States, between February 1969 and January 1970. The combined cost of the two films was SEK 7,000,000 , making them the most expensive Swedish films produced at the time.

The New Land was released to cinemas in Sweden on 26 February 1972. The film opened in New York City on 26 October 1973. The Emigrants and The New Land were edited as The Emigrant Saga and aired on television. The films were first released for home video viewing in the United States in February 2016, when The Criterion Collection released both films on DVD and Blu ray. The films had been frequently requested by customers. In 2016, The New Land was featured in the Gothenburg Film Festival.

Writing for The New York Times, Lawrence van Gelder praised the film as "a masterly exercise in film making", and complimented von Sydow and Ullman. He wrote that, while the film could be "a reunion with old friends" for audiences that had seen The Emigrants, The New Land could also stand alone. In New York, Judith Crist said the film demonstrated "poetic and human detail". U. S. novelist Philip Roth was also an admirer of the film, writing in 1974 that "It's the first movie I've seen in years and years where I actually believed in the life and death of the characters. But the rendering of the settlement of the Midwest by immigrant Swedes and their dealings with the Indians and nature, is as good as anything in American literature on the subject", and it was an influence on some of his later work. Roger Ebert referred to The New Land as a masterpiece in his review of Troell's Everlasting Moments (2008). In his 2015 Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gave the film three and a half stars out of four, praising it for "Superior performances, photography, many stirring scenes". Author Terrence Rafferty wrote that The New Land appears lighter than The Emigrants, but has "a more pervasive sense of danger" and "disquiet", and compared Robert and Arvid to Lennie and George in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The 1974 American television series The New Land was based loosely on both The Emigrants and The New Land, which Rafferty attributed to the popularity of both films.