Scandinavians and Finns.

[Bereta_Eder]

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?

[Bereta_Eder]

(of course the movie was not as boring as that)

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

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.

[Bereta_Eder]

Thanks Laz!

[Bereta_Eder]

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

[Pekka]

Read the descriptions behind titles?

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Pekka
Read the descriptions behind titles?

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

[Pekka]

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

[CyberGnu]

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

[CyberGnu]

BTW, was the main characters names Karl-Oscar and Kristina?

[Bereta_Eder]

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

[Kropotkin]

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.

[Kropotkin]

He has also played Emperor Ming by the way...

[Bereta_Eder]

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.

[Bereta_Eder]

To complicate things a bit more, I see that Max von Sydow has played in a number of Bergman's films too.