26-04-2003 01:58									#1
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had to clean part of a field today from wild plants with that farmer's instrument. got a callus on my rosy writer's hands but i liked the physical effort.

which got me thinking, the life of a farmer can be tough,
which got me thinking of a interesting film I saw about such cultivation of the fields and what a struggle can be for a farmer to clean his field of rocks and then cultivate it and so on and so on.

anyone knows the name of that movie and the director?

	26-04-2003 01:59									#2
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(of course the movie was not as boring as that)

	26-04-2003 02:46									#3
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Well it sounds crucifyingly dull and gloomy, and from your synopsis I've decided that I'd rather gnaw off one of my thumbs than watch it, so it's probably a Bergman monstrosity.

	26-04-2003 02:46									#4
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Thanks Laz!

	26-04-2003 02:56									#5
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Now if only one could point out which one of these this film could possibly be I'd be grateful.

I found the movie mesmerizing but my english are nowhere near the level I should master in order to convey what I felt so I won't even try. A blessing really if not a missed chance for some entertainment

	26-04-2003 03:10									#6
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Read the descriptions behind titles?

	26-04-2003 03:12									#7
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quote: Originally posted by Pekka Read the descriptions behind titles?

And waste all that time??!! Last resort if no answers within a couple of days

	26-04-2003 03:15									#8
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I'm too lazy to read those too, I don't know the movie itself so.. I'm betting you'll be reading those in few days as this is the last post anyone else but you will make to this thread

	26-04-2003 04:01									#9
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Paikitis, what you saw was probably the movie "The emigrants" or "Unto a good land", based on books by Wilhelm Moberg.

They are translated into english, and they are actually a great read. The first book deals with a young farmer family's struggle to survive on a plot of land way to small for a family in central Sweden.

The second book deals with their voyage to the US, and their voyage from New York to Minnesota.

The third book deals with their efforts in building a new life as farmers in Minnesota.

The books are based on letters sent back from Swedish emigrants during the 1860's (a period when 30% of Swedens' population migrated to the US). Very well written, and valuable from a historical perspective.

Also more or less mandatory reading for all Swedes and Swedish Americans

	26-04-2003 04:02									#10
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BTW, was the main characters names Karl-Oscar and Kristina?

	26-04-2003 17:18									#11
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Cybergnu, thanks.

From what I remember, the character was not young. But it certaintly was a family working the fields. In some Scandinavian country or Finland. I have a very weak and uncertain impression that it was in Norway but I can't be sure. Could have been Sweden. Or an even more remote possibility Finland.

I saw a part of the movie at one of the greek state channels (one good thing about them is that they don't depend on advertisement so they have devilered us from all that other TV crap).

I remember it was filmed in the fashion of a documentary. Like being a documentary that is although it clearly was a movie. The main character as far as I remember was middle aged to old. What has stuck in memory apart from the aesthetic aspect is the struggle to rid the field from rocks with the camera going to all sorts of angles. It was also very personified meaning the camera focused regularly to faces although it also frequently withrew to cover all the surroundings.
There wasn't any referance to America however. Although the feeling of difficulty of the task abounded.

I'll search for Moberg and check it out.

Thanks

	26-04-2003 17:27									#12
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It could be the film Cybergnu talks about as there is such a part of it. Hower it's not that huge a part of it so it might be something else. One hint about this is if you can remember the farmers face. He's played by Max von Sydow that has done quite a number of roles in english films. As the priest in the Exorcist for example.

	26-04-2003 17:28									#13
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He has also played Emperor Ming by the way...

	26-04-2003 17:35									#14
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Now that you mention it, yes he looked a bit like the priest from the Exorcist. But I don't think they were the same person.
Was the part where they were still in their native land working the field filmed sort of like a documentary?
There wasn't a clear plot in the part I saw, no story. But the life of this family in the field. It focused on the task at hand.

Hmm all things considered it might be it. The first book/film maybe.

	26-04-2003 17:37									#15
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To complicate things a bit more, I see that Max von Sydow has played in a number of Bergman's films too.

	26-04-2003 17:43									#16
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I wouldn't say it's filmed like a documentary, no. The working on the fields repeats itself a couple of times.* It starts with Karl Oskars father that works hard with getting rid of the stones out of the field. In one scence he tries to get rid of a huge stone that breaks him and his son takes over the land.

* I don't know how it works in a country like Greece but in a cold climate stones raises to the ground. During the fall water has a tendency to gather under stones in the ground. When the temperature goes below zero the water turns to ice and expands pushing the stone up to the ground. This means that if you have a field with a lot of stones you'll probably never get rid of them.

	26-04-2003 17:44									#17
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Yes he has... But i do recommend reading the books anyhow. IMHO Moberg is a great author.

	26-04-2003 17:54									#18
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Hmm if it wasn't filmed like a documentary then it becomes more and more unpropable that it's The Emmigrants. Also there was an unusual "fragmantation" in the pixels of the image screen. Meaning that the movie pictures ressembled a bit a high resolution... mosaic, it wasn't a crisp clear image. It wasn't from older image technology. This was certaintly a kind of filter on the camera.
There was a scene where the father tried to remove a large boulder from the field I think with the aid of another family member. There was also a lot of explanations about all the difficulties of the cultivation of the fields. And it felt like you were there besides them. Inside the scenes. It didn't leave anything for the imagination or rather small gaps like small incertions to fill them with your own thoughts and cling better to the overall movie.

I will try to find the emigrants to check it out anyway. Assuming the book was made into a film?

	26-04-2003 17:58									#19
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quote: I remember it was filmed in the fashion of a documentary. Like being a documentary that is although it clearly was a movie.

that makes me think it's a rather new film. do you know when it was made?
the farmer - was he dressed in 19th century or "modern" clothing?

	26-04-2003 18:05									#20
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Yes, there's a film version of the book (otherwise we shouldn't think it might be it); The Emigrants (utvandrarna) from 1971 and then The New land (Nybyggarna) from 1972. Jan Troell is the name of the director and features a number of other good actors like Liv Ullman, Per Oscarsson and Allan Edwall. However, It's problaby very hard to get in Greece.

	26-04-2003 18:11									#21
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Does this ring a bell?

	26-04-2003 18:20									#22
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Gangerolf, old clothing but not a century old. More like around 30 - 40 years old? But I can't be sure since the clothes farmers use are not so drastically changed through this time span I think.

Kropotkin, thanks. I think you're right. Very hard to almost impossible to get a hold of that in Greece if it is not relatively known outside of Sweden and Scandinavia. If it had won some award the videostores could have it though. Then there's the student cinema association of the university of athens but I doubt they loan their movies.

	26-04-2003 18:24									#23
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quote: Originally posted by Kropotkin Does this ring a bell?

nope, the main character was a relatevely old man with austern (is this the word? like tough, dugged in) face characteristics, and no hat as far as I can remember and the stones were smaller. The scenery was also not so green at all.

	26-04-2003 18:28									#24
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I think the emigrants become a more remote possibility but will try to find the movie. It nevertheless fits the overall scenario the most from what I have heard so far.

Last edited by Bereta_Eder on 26-04-2003 at 18:33

	26-04-2003 18:42									#25
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if there were mountains in the background it's more likely it was shot in norway than in sweden or finland. just a thought.

and not very green? maybe somewhere in northern norway then. if so, then perhaps you saw a film version of a Hamsun novel. (But then we're back to the 19th century. argh)
In short: I have no idea.

	26-04-2003 18:47									#26
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How many films about the difficulties of a farmer's family life do you people have??!!

	26-04-2003 18:49									#27
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I know there are an awful lot of Finns in northern Ontario. They settled there because nobody could figure out what to do with the wasteland.


Finnish farmers LIKE dragging around rocks.

It turns them on or something.


A strange people.

	26-04-2003 21:26									#28
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* Rasbelin pokes Seeker for a boring remark.