Browsing through new DVD releases at a store in Malmö this weekend, I came across a new Swedish release of Jan Troell’s big essay film from 1988 – Sagolandet. I did not see the film upon its original release, but I remember that it created a lot of controversy in Sweden at the time. I expect to view it within the next couple of days, and will post further. The good news up front is that it carries English subtitles.
I confess that I have not seen many of Troell’s films, but I did have the good fortune of seeing a screening of his first feature film Här har du ditt liv, and it is amongst the most impressive Scandinavian films I have ever seen. How it is not out on DVD even in Sweden is a mystery. Almost as great, and certainly far more famous, are his two films from the early seventies – Utvandrarna and Nybyggarna, which taken together constitute a six hour adaptation of Wilhelm Moberg’s cycle of novels depicting a Swedish family’s immigration to the United States in the 19th century. With the exposure that Bergman’s films have received all over the world, it is again surprising that these two films starring Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann have not been released anywhere on DVD outside of Sweden.
There are several other great films in Troell’s filmography, several of them out on DVD in Sweden (some of them with English subs) and apparently a new one premiered earlier this month at the Toronto Film Festival. For me, this is a director ripe for discovery.
Troell films I have seen, including some I own on DVD:
Ole dole doff (1968) - Haven't seen this for a long time. It's based on Troell's experiences as a teacher, and as I remember it shows the hard life of a well meaning teacher. He has difficulty getting the children inspired, and doesn't get the support he needs from the school. I liked the film, and the perspective on school life is not the usual one. Imagine being a teacher instead of a pupil in The 400 Blows.
Utvandrarna/Nybyggarna (1971, 1972, The Emigrants/The New Land) – I have the Swedish 3 disc set of this from Svensk Filmindustri (SF). Based on Moberg’s books about the Swedish emigration to USA, these are Troell’s best known films. I like them a lot. Filmed in south Sweden, including the parts that take place in USA, it has beautiful photography and great compassion for the hard life of the Swedish peasants. It’s been noted recently in Swedish media that Troell went against the political feelings in Sweden in the early 70’s, showing America as a place of hope, where you can hopefully escape not only poverty, but more importantly a repressive state and church. The 3 disc box has the two films in theatrical cuts (378 minutes in total) plus a bonus disc with a one hour documentary and more. Excellent picture quality, anamorphic widescreen, and commentary by Troell and the Producer. Subtitles in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish, but not English.
Sagolandet (1988, The Land of Dreams) – I have this on DVD. This is a strange film. Troell is his own cinematographer, and for me this is the thing I can enjoy with this 184 minute documentary. There is a lot of playing with light and reflections when Troell talks about childhood and what Sweden means to him. But the central theme which is Troell and American Rollo May attacking the socialdemocrats who had ruled Sweden for most part after the second world war doesn’t interest me much now (Swedish politics has changed a lot since then). Especially as Rollo May often irritate me, but is admired by Troell. The DVD is from Noble Entertainment. Picture quality is ok but not good, very grainy and lacks contrast. No extras, subtitles in Swedish and English.
Il Capitano (1991) – I have this on DVD. Based on a true story about a young Finnish couple who went on a crime tour in north Sweden, just for kicks, and ended up killing a small boy and his dad. I like this film a lot. It’s like a low key Natural Born Killers. There is no glamour in this story of a young girl who gets fascinated by a small time criminal. They are bored, and things go really bad when they travel by car in the Scandinavian countryside. But the violence isn’t shown on screen, violence is not what this film is about. The DVD from Sandrew Metronome is awful. Slightly letterboxed it might show the film in the correct aspect ratio. But the picture is not sharp and has some awful artefacts going on in the dark scenes. Subtitles in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and English
Hamsun (1996) – I have this on DVD. Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German co-production starring Max von Sydow as the Norwegian author Hamsun. Long film (152 minutes) that is well done but didn’t really grip me. It shows how Hamsun, who was maybe Norway’s most loved author, came to be a Nazi sympathizer and treated as a traitor after the second world war. Interesting film if you want to know more about Norway before and during WWII. The DVD I have is Danish from Nordisk Film. Good picture and anamorphic widescreen, and includes a 23 minute interview with Max von Sydow as an extra. Subtitles in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.
Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (2008, Everlasting Moments). I watched this as it came out on cinema a year and a half ago. It’s a portrayal of a mother at the beginning of the 20th century struggling to cope with an alcoholic husband. She gets a camera and photography becomes the place where she can escape from everyday life. The film is based on a family member on Troell wife’s side, and the photographs she took. For me the best moments are when she discovers what light can do to an image. This is sometimes similar to what Troell does with light in Sagolandet. And on a personal note I was delighted that I had three Swedish teenagers with me when watching this, and two of them actually liked this slow film!
Showing at Telluride in a sidebar, Six Films Selected and Presented by Michael Ondaatje:
HERE'S YOUR LIFE
Though Jan Troell’s THE IMMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND became well known in the early 1970s, his first film is even more wonderful. Never released in North America or on DVD and based on Eyvind Johnson’s novel, HERE’S YOUR LIFE is a bildungsroman about a young man in his late teens working in “various jobs—as a logger, as a projectionist, as part of a small theatrical troupe—and developing, during this scattered, informal education, a political and artistic stance to the world around him. As always with Troell (a tributee in 2008), the camerawork is so rare that you know you have never seen anything like this before. The long drives, the two men dancing joyously in the nude, a love scene on bicycles—all are unbelievably vivid. A great, unforgettable film. – MO (Sweden, 1966, 169m) A new restoration from the Swedish Institute
