Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

Winner, Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film, 1989 Nominated, Academy Award Best Supporting Actor, 1989

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.

“The film is a towering achievement, grueling in its portrayal of a harsh existence yet ultimately an exhilarating experience unlikely to be forgotten.” - Los Angeles Times

“Pelle the Conqueror is a feature film of epic proportions and a relentlessly unsentimental look at life among the haves and, primarily, the have-nots on a big turn-of-the-century farm.” - Variety

“Director Bille August and ace Scandinavian cameraman Per Holst make the film a visual treat.” - Empire Magazine