Reviews & Ratings for
Pelle the Conqueror More at IMDbPro »Pelle erobreren (original title)

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38 reviews in total

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32 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
Deserves all the awards it won, 25 March 1999

Author: szavo-2 from england

I was very surprised to see there is only one comment for this film despite of many awards it won. I watched it several years ago, but I can still feel the winter sunshine of Denmark and the boy (I really felt as he felt)who acted as if there were no script or camera around. The scene(you have to see it),the half-witted boy volunteered to get beaten,still keeps me thinking. I wish I was an English to express well enough. I cannot say this is my favorite, but for the first and the last time, I watched a film with intense near physical pain. I don't know whom to recommend but watch it when you feel calm rather than feel good. But it's not depressing at all.

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26 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Outstanding Male Lead, 12 March 2005
Author: Terry Corbet from United States

Max von Sydow has probably been given proper recognition for his body of work in Europe, but I don't think we have acknowledged that talent sufficiently in America.

This is a superbly made film for which more knowledgeable reviewers than I can make appropriate comments concerning everything from the original story line to the scenic shots covering changing weather and the years of growth of all the characters.

My only contribution is this: Where else do you have a male lead role where certain aspects of being a hero are necessary to the role, yet the fact of the story is that the male lead is failing in almost every, public aspect of his life. Mr. von Sydow pulls it off. He is a failure, yet he has the stature of a hero and it's not just in the eyes of his adolescent son.

I don't think any of the current generation of male leads could have made this film -- perhaps Costner, perhaps Newman. But that's my point; if any of them had crafted this performance, they would have received recognition. Max von Sydow gave the performance of a lifetime and we didn't even know where to classify the film. The film and the male lead should have won for best in class in the year of release. As another reviewer has noted -- this is a gem.

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18 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
A beautiful portrayal of immigration and dreams, 23 July 1999

Author: Kritic-3 from Florida

Pelle The Conqueror is one of the best films I have ever seen. The story describes the journey of Lasse Karlsson(Max Von Sydow), and his little boy, Pelle, as they move from Sweden to Denmark. In Denmark, they hope to find a better life than in Sweden. Lasse Karlsson and his boy, however, find the Danish life brutal and hard. Finding work on a large farm, Pelle and his father struggle to survive. Pelle The Conqueror is about more than their life on this farm. It is more about the dreams of this young boy, and the inspiration, and determination he gains from his first journey. And it is at the same time about how Pelle eventually needs to move on from his father and find more from life. What a magical movie.

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18 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
I am speechless, 31 March 2007

Author: ninoguapo from Middle of Nowhere

Sometimes I stumble on a movie which all of the sudden turns out to be a real masterpiece. Pelle the Conqueror really surprised me – touching story told in a unique way. Pelle is a boy from Sweden who immigrates to Denmark with his dad after the death of his mother. They are both full of hope – hope for a new beginning – and there is a scene in the boat on which Pelle wants to hear over and over about the new country they will be living at: "Tell me about it again, papa. It's very different this new country.

- You'll hardly… - You'll hardly believe your eyes. They put raisins in the pork roastand butter on your bread…Some places they put butter on your bread.- And kids are free all day.

- Yes, Pelle, yes. Wages are so incredibly high, that kids…That kids don't have to work." It sounds too good to be true – may be not for you – but imagine what those words meant for a boy who is used to live in a missy , probably due to the hard life he had to live after the death of his mother. As soon as the boat reaches the shore the reality of this new world came out of the dream mist. Finding employment is not as easy especially considering the age of the Pele's father and the fact that he has a small boy with him. At the end they are offered an employment at a large farm, but find the life would present many challenges to them.

The acting is very good – the young Pelle Hvenegaard who plays the role of Pelle is so good that one can thing that he has a dozen of movies in his carrier and probably that is the reason for which 2 years after the movie is released he wins two award for the Best Young Actor in 1988 at the European Film Awards and for Best Young Actor in a Foreign Film in a Foreign Filmat the young artists awards for his role in Pelle the Conqueror.

I watched this movie with constant hope to see happiness in the eyes of Pelle and the moments in which he felt happy was shining like a real diamonds surrounded by the dust of the harsh live he had to deal with. Although Pelle is often refused friendships from the local Danish boys he shows his good heart befriending a boy who has some physical disability – and their friendship through a little odd at times shows that people can find someone to care for , even in the toughest places.

Pelle the Conqueror is classic movie and although some may thing that the story gets a bit depressing at times I recommend it to anyone who treasure excellent coming of age movies.

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17 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
European cinema at its best, 27 June 2000
Author: Frizzicotti from Stuttgart, Germany

In our days where every director tries to copy the Hollywood way of film making, 'Pelle' freshens our spirits like a healthy European winter breeze. It's all that what Old World cinema stands for: thought-provoking, real and full of silent passion. Both actors are marvelous in their roles, and especially Max von Sydow who has played every character from super-villains to torn crusaders in his career gives a performance that will forever shine out as a master example that you don't have to pretend you're a death sick, blind, and mentally retarded neurotic alcoholic to win at least the Oscar nomination.

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20 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
Again..a pleasant surprise!, 27 April 2004

Author: vdg from Vancouver, Canada

Very few films can stand up so well as this one. I was very pleasant surprised when I got the DVD from the public library and I realized that I had and in my hands an unknown gem. Starting with the costumes, that are probably the most realistic ones I've seen in many movies; the actors that just perfect for their parts (specially the kids..) and finishing with a brilliant director that to me was quite unknown( I realized later that is the same one from `Misérables, Les'). If there is something missing or maybe not as good as the rest of the film is the MUSIC. Sometimes it lives up to the quality of the movie, but most of the time is just missing or is not really appropriate for the particular scene..sorry, but that's my opinion! Most of the people think that the characters are not well developed and not coherent , but to me adaptation of the book is always hard to follow, so maybe that's why you get the feeling that something is missing… The movie ranks on top of my `all times favorites', a true European masterpiece!

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12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Von Sydow at his very best, but still upstaged by a boy!, 6 August 2000

Author: Sonatine97 (sonatine97@hotmail.com) from Birmingham, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

*** SPOILER NEAR END OF REVIEW ***

Whenever I see a film starring Max Von Sydow, I can expect the very best in quality acting from him, regardless of whether the actual film is lousy or not.

Sydow isn't perhaps all that internationally well known, although he's appeared in a number of high profile Hollywood films such as The Exorcist and Three Days of the Condor.

But he really shines in his native Scandinavian homeland especially under aspiring & inspiring directors such as Bergman & August. The great thing about Sydow is his quality & depth to play any character a director requires; to me he is on a par with Olivier.

In this Bille August adapted screenplay we witness the plight of a father (Sydow) and young son (Pelle Hvenegaard) looking for work in Denmark having sailed from their native home of Sweden at the turn of the 20th Century.

Pelle initially idolises his father seeing him as his guardian where his life will be all play, play & play. But the bitter reality is so different - they end up as cowhands for a wealthy country baron. Life is hard even for young boys, and Pelle finds it doubly hard because he is picked on at school because he is a poor immigrant.

Sydow is old & widowed, a man who has had to work all his life, yet his faith in God is undeterred even though he knows he can no longer live up to the young boy's eager expectations. For in spite of all his grandiose words to the boy about whipping those who beat him, when he actually comes face to face with his superiors he crumbles & cowers; all witnessed by a disbelieving Pelle.

By the end of the film Pelle wants to leave this tortured existence and look for a new life in America; yet his disillusioned father no longer has the strength or the will to follow his son's dreams.

A quite remarkable film both in content & style. Everything is so underplayed yet so dynamic; August doesn't have to try too hard to give his actors enough scope to understand their characters and neither does he have to underscore the grim & brutal realities of seeing immigrants ill treated.

There are various examples where he could have gone into explicit detail in order to move us & shock us, but he doesn't. Instead he pulls away from the edge and lets us imagine what may have happened.

In addition the photography by Jörgen Persson is breathtaking; especially the winter scenes of the farm and the nearby coast covered in ice. Persson also does a lot of fixed portrait shots of the leads, spending 20 or 30 seconds framing a face while letting the music & other background noise fade so that there is nothing to distract us as we look into the eyes of the character on view.

But the real honours have to go to the two male leads; Sydow gives his usual sterling performance as the down-trodden man who still tries to be his son's hero. One of most moving scenes is near the end where a blossoming romance with a middle-aged woman comes to a dramatic conclusion and he turns to the demon drink and finally turns his back on God, while his son looks on - pure genius & gut wrenching stuff!

However, even Sydow is placed in the shadows by the young boy, Pelle Hvenegaard. It's as if the part was specially made for this talented youth, especially with his facial looks & big eyes. The film doesn't overpower Hvenegaard, he is not intimidated by the presence of the great Sydow or any of his elders. Instead he plays his own part with a great deal of innocent charm & maturity.

**** SPOILER *****

Perhaps the most emotional scene of all is right at the end of the film, where the boy finally realises that his father is not his saviour after all, just a broken old man with a baggage of broken dreams. The boy has to move on and follow his own dreams in spite of Sydow begging him to stay. The last scene where they stand out in the snow covered field, they shake hands before the boy leaves his father for a better future, is truly gut-wrenching & so moving!

**** SPOILER END ****

The film is not wildly available on tape of DVD, but I urge you to see it if you can. You will be moved in so many different ways.

*****/*****

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13 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Hard Work and Dreams on the Horizon, 27 October 2004

Author: thinker1691 from USA

Max Von Sydow gives a stirring performance as an immigrant father with an enduring dream of conquering the world. Realizing his failure, he instills the dream in his son. Together, they seek a better life in the new land, but are confronted with harsh conditions and a bleak economic system, systemic of poverty and prejudice. The film locations and the fine acting enhance this Danish import. It should be noted that Von Sydow' character is a man possessed with inner strength and is unafraid of the punishing work and low pay, yet in several parts of the story, the father which his son has come to admire, retreats from the simple promises he has given his son. consequentially, the boy learns to accept his father as just an ordinary man with an enduring dream. Don't we all? ***

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Beautiful Rendering of a Difficult Life, 24 February 2008

Author: (normangelman@verizon.net) from Washington, D.C.

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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9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A classic coming of age film., 14 April 2004

Author: joninfinity from usa

Pelle the Conquerer is an excellent film for its genre. This, a classic coming of age film, is told in a sincere, brutally honest way. There is a sense of realism here, without a sugar coated happy ending. A child, learning the harsh lessons of life, yet undeterred in his thirst for 'conquering' his own, emerging world. The DVD version is 150 minutes long, this, sadly cut down from the film's original release of 160 minutes. What a shame, in the interest of time, to take away from the directors vision. Max von Sydow turns in another fine performance, but the movie belongs to it's young star. His only film, I am sorry to say. Excellent, inspired....

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