FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Bille August - Pelle The Conqueror

 It was like this at all times. Immigrants have always believed that the new country is a land of milk and honey. People like Lasse Karlsson (Max von Sydow). Lasse is a Swedish farmhand who sails to Denmark with his son Pelle at the beginning of the 20th century. Still in Sweden, Lasse promises that on Sunday people will have breakfast in bed. When he arrives in a shabby harbour with his little son, disappointment sets in immediately. Almost everyone on board is a worker from Sweden. They are inspected by the local farmers like cattle. One by one they are hired. But not Lasse. He's too old. And he has a child. Half drunk, Lasse forces himself on the last farmer. His name is Kongstrup (Axel Strøbye) and he is a devious type. Lasse and Pelle are now sitting in the back of Kongstrup's wagon, driving through the fields, on their way to the future. A beginning full of hopes and dreams, which will be followed by many years on Kongstrup Farm. In the changing seasons, life always remains the same. Everything seems to be organised to disappoint Lasse. It is Pelle who decides to emigrate once more and make a much bigger trip... At Kongstrup Estate the seasons determine the lives of the people. Kongstrup, whom the workers seldom see, chases women - while Mrs Kongstrup drinks brandy. Kongstrup has no shame, and even tries it on the woman who appears at his door from time to time with her child in her arms. Meanwhile the workers are tormented by the "manager" and pre-worker. Pelle in particular becomes a victim of the sadists. He turns to Lasse, asks for protection. But Lasse is too old and tired. In the future Pelle will form his own alliances and friendships. Who remembers the three-part epic "The Emigrants" and "The New Land" from the 70s? It's about Scandinavians settling in Minnesota. Starring Max von Sydow. I think Bille August knows these, his role models. He also knows how to use Max von Sydow, who never gives the impression of acting. He always seems simple and true. So much is happening around him. The intrigues in the house of Kongstrup, the beautiful local woman who falls in love with her stall, the torments of the workers. Then Pelle also falls in love, and so it happens that coffee in bed on a Sunday no longer seems so far away and outlandish. But that's only possible if Pelle no longer follows his father, but his own dream...