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Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
"Pelle erobreren" (original title)

 -  Drama  -  21 December 1988 (USA)
7.7
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Ratings: 7.7/10 from 5,590 users  
Reviews: 40 user | 17 critic

The end of the 19th century. A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who move to Denmark to find work. They find ... See full summary »

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(novel), (screenplay), 2 more credits »
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Title: Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

Pelle the Conqueror (1987) on IMDb 7.7/10

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Won 1 Oscar. Another 22 wins & 5 nominations. See more awards »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
Erik Paaske ...
Forvalter / Foreman
Björn Granath ...
Erik (as Bjørn Granath)
Astrid Villaume ...
Fru Kongstrup / Mrs. Kongstrup
Axel Strøbye ...
Kongstrup
Troels Asmussen ...
Rud
Kristina Törnqvist ...
Anna
Karen Wegener ...
Madam Olsen / Mrs. Olsen
...
Jomfru Sine / Miss Sine
Lars Simonsen ...
Niels Køller
Buster Larsen ...
Ole Køller
John Wittig ...
Skolelærer / School teacher
Troels Munk ...
Læge / Doctor
Nis Bank-Mikkelsen ...
Præst / Clergyman
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Storyline

The end of the 19th century. A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who move to Denmark to find work. They find employment at a large farm, but are treated as the lowest form of life. Pelle starts to speak Danish but is still harassed as a foreigner. But none of them wants to give up their dream of finding a better life than the life they left in Sweden. Written by Mattias Thuresson

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

De trodde att världen skulle bli deras

Genres:

Drama

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

|

Language:

| |

Release Date:

21 December 1988 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Pelle the Conqueror  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Gross:

$2,053,931 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1
See  »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Pelle Hvenegaard, who plays the leading part, is actually named after the title character himself. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Pelle: Father?
Lassefar: Everything's gonna be fine.
Pelle: Tell it again.
Lassefar: This new country we're going to is very different.
Pelle: Talk more about it.
Lassefar: They put raisins in the pork roast and butter on the bread. They put a lot of butter on the bread. Brandy is cheap as water and it is so strong that it knocks you off. But your father can take it, Pelle, because he's strong.
Pelle: And children are free all day.
Lassefar: Yes, Pelle, yes.
Pelle: Tell it again.
[...]
See more »

Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) See more »

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User Reviews

 
Beautiful Rendering of a Difficult Life
24 February 2008 | by (Washington, D.C.) – See all my reviews

Pelle the Conqueror won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film when it was originally released. Although I did not see it then, it is certainly easy to see why it received that answer. It is an unsparing tale of the life of a Swedish immigrant father and son (Max von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard) who have come to Denmark following the death of wife and mother and found work as laborers on a farm in a desolate seaside landscape. It is, to avoid giving details, a terrible life. I'm told that this is a very thin slice from a four-volume novel. So despite the film's 2-1/2 hour length, what we're shown is a tiny piece of a much larger canvas. Max von Sydow, a famous actor in his day, is superb as the elderly father of young Pelle but the child's role is also very well acted, and the direction by Bille August who also wrote the screenplay is unobtrusive but sure-handed. Since it is set in the 19th Century, there is nothing dated about this film. It is a masterwork.


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