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
Danish
English