The New Land (1972) User Reviews

Amazingly Authentic

[evanston_dad · 9/10 · 16 October 2018]

"The New Land" finishes the story begun in Jan Troell's "The Emigrants," which was released the year before. It's a longer and bleaker film. "The Emigrants" was harsh, but at least in that film the people making the arduous journey to America had the promise of all that America had to offer (or at least what they thought it had to offer) to get them through the tribulations. But in "The New Land," they've settled into that life, and their new home proves not to be the utopia they dreamed.

It's astonishing how authentic these films feel, and it's hard to remember while watching them that they were made in the early 1970s. "The New Land" has some really difficult passages to watch, namely one involving the murder of a settler family at the hands of a gang of Native Americans -- including the horrific death of a baby -- and another an extended segment that details the nightmarish fever dream of a journey two of the settlers take to mine for gold in California. This story line started to feel long to me, and in a film that clocks in at nearly three and a half hours I wouldn't have minded this one being left on the cutting room floor. But it doesn't mar the overall brilliance of this film as a stand alone story, or the entire two-film saga.

And unlike "The Emigrants," which I only found in a dubbed version, "The New Land" is subtitled in English, which makes for a much more pleasant viewing experience.

"The New Land" was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1972 Academy Awards, in the same year that "The Emigrants" was nominated in four categories, including Best Picture.

Grade: A

The continuation of an American saga

[Oblomov_81 · 7/10 · 20 August 2001]

"The New Land" is the second half of a story started in Troell's "The Emigrants," which depicted the struggles of a band of Swedish peasants in their move to America. Here, several of the settlers- such as the priest and the prostitute- move away in the first half-hour and reappear here and there throughout the rest of the film. The plot focuses on Karl-Oscar, his wife Kristina, and the family they try to raise in the Minnesota wilderness.

Von Sydow and Ullmann are given a chance to embellish on their characters, and they both do excellent work. Axberg also does a fine job of lending more depth to the character of Robert, Karl-Oscar's rebellious younger brother. There is also material worked in that examines the mistreatment (and eventual uprising) of local Native Americans and the futile searches for gold in the north. These other elements do not always seem to fit with the central story, but they effectively add to the sense of time and place anyway.

"The New Land" does not have the same emotional impact that "The Emigrants" had, but it develops the two central characters more and intelligently explores how they learn to adapt to their new life. Put together, these two films convincingly illustrate the plight of those who forged our frontier.

The continuation of a saga on early America

[Oblomov_81 · 7/10 · 22 August 2001]

"The New Land" is the second half of a story started in Troell's "The Emigrants," which depicted the struggles of a band of Swedish peasants in their move to America. Here, several of the settlers- such as the priest and the prostitute- move away in the first half-hour and reappear here and there throughout the rest of the film. The plot focuses on Karl-Oscar, his wife Kristina, and the family they try to raise in the Minnesota wilderness.

Von Sydow and Ullmann are given a chance to embellish on their characters, and they both do excellent work. Axberg also does a fine job of lending more depth to the character of Robert, Karl-Oscar's rebellious younger brother. There is also material worked in that examines the mistreatment (and eventual uprising) of local Native Americans and the futile searches for gold in the north. These other elements do not always seem to fit with the central story, but they effectively add to the sense of time and place anyway.

"The New Land" does not have the same emotional impact that "The Emigrants" had, but it develops the two central characters more and intelligently explores how they learn to adapt to their new life. Put together, these two films convincingly illustrate the plight of those who forged our frontier.

Bound for DVD?

[tangoviudo · 10/10 · 30 October 2006]

This is an extraordinary film, which I gave 10 out of 10 even if Warner Brothers, the film's theatrical distributor, cut the film in half for its American release. If ever this film (and its predecessor, "The Emigrants") makes it to DVD, I sincerely hope those 102 minutes are restored, so that I can at last see the film that Jan Troell intended for me to see.

As it looks on video, "The New Land" is still magnificent - its depiction of Swedish immigrants settling in frontier Minnesota outdoing every Western ever made. Be sure to look for the scene that George Lucas stole wholesale where Max von Sydow slaughters an ox and places his freezing son inside it during a snowstorm.

The Impact These Two Films Had is Now Forgotten

[azjimnson · 8/10 · 5 August 2006]

In the 1970s, The Emmigrants and The New Land became a combined surprise success in America. I saw them on back to back nights at a theater in Northern California.They even spawned a short-lived TV series on ABC in 1974, also called The New Land, and featuring a young Kurt Russell. Today, no bottom line fixated TV executive would green light such a drama series. What? No cops, no doctors, no forensic experts? No go. I guess the 70s were a more adventurous time in TV programing. In any case, the series was canceled after one season. I recently read Vilhelm Moberg's novel (I think there were really three novels in this saga), The Last Letter Home, and while Karl-Oskar dies at the end of the novel, he does not suffer quite the humiliation his character suffers in the film. At the end of the film, I seem to recall that he had been forced (by bad health, perhaps?) to leave his farm and live in as an anonymous shuffling old man in some urban setting. In the novel he is still on his farm when he dies. Perhaps Jan Troell, the director of the film was trying to make a point about how the struggles of the pioneers are not remembered or honored by those generations who came after them. it's too bad these films seem to have also slipped from our collective memory.

On disc at last--Blu-Ray available!

[nungman36 · 9/10 · 3 September 2017]

In 2016 after years of waiting, Criterion Collection has released this two-part epic in Blu-Ray and standard DVD. For fullest effect, the two segments should be played as in the original, theatrical release: "The Emigrants" entirely in Swedish (with English subtitles), "The New Land" in English. It is in itself quite an achievement that the cast of both is virtually identical yet are competent in the new and old languages. Scandinavian immigrants to the Minnesota Territory in the 1850's--before the US Civil War-- found conditions both familiar and alien. The cold climate was like their native land but the soil of the New World was more fertile and not so stony. It was a place of open spaces and vast pine forests, few towns and no cities to compare with Stockholm or Oslo.

In the story, friendships are tested, some broken over issues of religion. Family life isn't always smooth or predictable. There are generational conflicts. Historical events are alluded to such as the Civil War or depicted, if briefly, like the 1862 uprising of the Eastern Sioux, starving on their Minnesota reservation, with deadly attacks on surrounding settlements until put down by the US Army. Yet the Indian side of the conflict is given play, also, with the emigrants coming to understand that The New Land had belonged to others before them.

Not as Powerful as The Emigrants

[SpaaceMonkee · 7/10 · 17 February 2023]

I watched this the day after watching The Emigrants. They're really one film cut into two very long halves. I suppose Kill Bill 2 also is a standalone movie, but no one would recommend seeing only that and not watching Kill Bill 1. It's the same for The Emigrants and The New Land. Certain relationships in this movie only have power because of the backstory found in The Emigrants, such as Robert and Arvid's close friendship, why Kristina is so attached to Kristina despite religious differences, and even why Uncle Danjel is relevant.

The cinematography in this film felt more jarring and experimental, particularly with respect to Robert's trip out west. The movie is incredibly long and drawn out, and the timeline can be hard to pinpoint. An hour may be spent on days or weeks and then years suddenly pass between camera cuts.

This film does excel at showing both the impact of loss and how commonplace death was on the frontier. Danger never was far away, and seemingly distant occurrences suddenly could have local impact, whether the Civil War or strife with the Indian tribes. The New Land a pretty good film, but it suffers even more so than The Emigrants from overlength and without quite as much punch.

The excellent story continues...

[furienna · 9/10 · 8 July 2006]

Before you read this, you should read my comment for "Utvandrarna" ("The emigrants"). You should also watch the first movie before you watch this one. But let's start with this comment now, shall we? This movie is based on two novels by Vilhelm Moberg: "Nybyggarna" ("The new settlers") and "Sista brevet till Sverige" ("The last letter to Sweden"). The emigrants from Småland in Sweden have now settled down in Minnesota in America. This movie starts in the 1850s and end in the 1890s. Kristina never really adjusts to her new home in America and always misses her beloved Sweden. Her husband Karl Oskar on the other hand has no regrets. After all, aren't they richer now than anybody they knew in Sweden, and aren't their children going to have a better life now? Kristina's uncle Danjel and his family can't have any regrets either. After all, they don't have to fear the prosecution from the Church of Sweden anymore. Robert and Arvid go to California to join the Gold rush. But things don't turn out as good as they would liked too... But no character from the previous movie becomes as rich and successful as the former prostitute Ulrika. And the saga can continue...

generally quite good but sometimes loses its way

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 March 2006]

This is an important movie historically, though many will also find it very slow going and a bit boring. While this IS true, the life of the average immigrant of this time was ALSO quite boring, so to keep the movie as an accurate representation of the Swedish-American experience, it is awfully low-key to say the least. The acting, like the average Swedish immigrant, is very restrained and understated. Again, they were seeking absolute realism and got it. However, while I generally enjoyed this SLOW tale, I found the part when von Sydow's brother returned to be very poorly executed. Instead of a narrative, it was shown through cloudy dreams and confusing snippets--and TOTALLY derailed the movie until this segment was completed. I really can't understand why they chose to change the pacing, focus and perspective of the film so abruptly. Well, fortunately, after this brother dies, the film gets back on track. Not a great film, as it's too slow to interest all but the biggest historians and cinephiles and the segment with the brother just didn't ring true. However, its importance as a realistic portrayal of the immigrant experience is great.

Authentic tale of life in 1850's Minnesota

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 24 August 2019]

Picking up right where 'The Emigrants' left off, this film tells the story of an Swedish farming family who have staked out a claim and being their life anew in Minnesota. It's done in a highly realistic way, and we really feel the struggle of building a house, clearing the land, facing language difficulties, enduring the cold of winter, not having much money, and the possibly mortal threat of sicknesses. While it's giving us 1850's rural life in an authentic way, without a lot of glitz and a slower pace coming along as a part of that, it somehow does so without ever lagging over its 200+ minute run time, at least for me.

The story-telling a little more disjoint in this film, giving us bits of life in America almost as if in chapters, some parts of which we see once and then are never mentioned again. One example is the family's neighbors chastising them for their friendship with the former prostitute Ulrika (Monica Zetterlund), who has married a Baptist minister and converted to that faith, which they see as sacrilegious, and failing to note the irony in this view, given their own persecution prior to emigrating. It's a powerful scene, but nothing more comes of it. Similarly, we see a brief interval where Karl-Oscar (Max von Sydow) faces the possibility of going off to fight in America's Civil War after having been in the country for less than ten years, a perspective which was fascinating to me, but after he's rejected because of a limp, we hear nothing more about the distant fighting. Maybe this is like life.

Director Jan Troell is more daring stylistically during the flashback sequence involving the brother (Eddie Axberg), who goes off with a friend (Pierre Lindstedt) to try to find gold in California. Without spoiling anything, the surreal way he portrays this amplifies their harrowing ordeal, and I liked how the story behind how he returns with so much money is revealed.

The cast is wonderful, led by von Sydow and Liv Ullmann who have several great scenes. In one of the difficult moments, we see the attitude towards women in the period shown when she's told that getting pregnant again might prove fatal to her given past complications. She feels immense sadness over this because she feels like she wouldn't be a wife if this is true, and in turn, that she wouldn't be able to sleep with her husband if she couldn't risk pregnancy.

Unlike 'The Emigants', there is acknowledgment that the land these Swedish-Americans are farming was stolen from the Native Americans, but this is a film that is definitely told from a European perspective. Karl-Oscar defends himself, and we sympathize with him - he had no part in any of that, paid the government for the land, and has put in a lot of toil. We don't see any of the atrocities that the white settlers or the government committed, but we see some horrifying things the native Sioux do when backed into a corner and starving. One of the acts done after the killing of an entire white family is so brutally heinous, cruel, and disgusting that it seems to justify the mass hanging of Native Americans which follows. The events seem to be based loosely on the events of the Sioux Uprising in 1862, which led to the mass hanging of 38 Sioux in Minnesota. Still, I give the film credit for directly confronting the moral dilemma, though I struggle, wondering if there is an element here that is in a small way accepting one of America's two original sins. The film successfully strives for honesty through the lens of this family, achieves that, shows us just how hard life was in this period, and lets the viewer then grapple with what it all means. It made me think of the quote from Joyce, History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

each emigration story is different

[dromasca · 6/10 · 29 December 2019]

The Scandinavian film festival at the local cinematheque concluded several weeks ago, but yesterday,as a follow-up, we watched the second film of the mid-19th century Swedish emigration to America saga based on Vilhelm Moberg's novels and directed by Jan Troell. 'The New Land' (or 'Nybyggarna' in Swedish) was released on screen in 1972, one year after 'The Emigrants' and in modern terminology it can be considered a 'sequel' although the whole was probably from start conceived as a tandem of two films. The film continues the epic of the survivors of the group of peasants who, driven by economic constraints and religious persecutions in their native Sweden, had crossed the ocean to begin a new life in America. The new country, represented not only a territory waiting to be explored and a nature that was demanding to be subdued but also a conflicting history ignored by most newcomers. This second film is the story of the first decades of their new life, of the confrontation with different mentalities and the realities of conflicts and contradictions about which the new immigrants knew nothing until then.

Emigration stories are rarely simple, in some respects similar, and differ in many others. 'The Emigrants', the first film was obviously a Swedish saga. The action in 'The New Land' takes place entirely in the United States, but the story is again told from a Swedish perspective (the movie is spoken 99% of the time in Swedish) and the film does not become an American saga on screen. The authors of the script adapting Moberg's novel have chosen to focus on the fate of the Nilsson family - Carl Oskar, his wife Kristina and his younger brother Robert. The rest of the characters, including the route companions from 'The Emigrants', become at best secondary characters. We watch the struggle for survival and the hard work of the family that builds - with their own hands - a farm in Minnesota and a new destiny for themselves as American citizens. But the perspective is still that of immigrants, even when the action broadens its scope and describes the conflict between the newcomers and the US government on the one hand and the first inhabitants of America (the "Indians") on the other. Removed by fraud and violence from their lands to make room for the immigrants, the later respond with violence and cruelty, their revolt being repressed with even more violence.

The Indian war episode in the movie is the only time when the historical perspective is a little wider, the rest of the story taking place on a patch of land on the edge of a lake in Minnesota, and focusing on the relationships between Carl Oskar and Kristina, on their struggle to control nature, and on the adaptation of newcomers to the surrounding economy and society. The quality of the film consists primarily of the human dimension of the experience that the viewers live together with the characters. The heroes have to face the sometimes hostile nature, the older and newer locals and the rules of a world different from the one they lived in, but they also carry their own ballast of traditions, prejudices and religious conflicts imported from the old country. The resulting period landscape is truthful and impressive, this is the result of the vision of the director and of the wonderful acting of Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, two of Ingmar Bergman's favorite actors. Director Jan Troell patiently and painstakingly builds together all the blocks of a cinematic edifice that largely succeeds to pass the test of time despite the length and slow pace of the story which challenges modern viewers. The nature that surrounds the heroes, sometimes generous, sometimes threatening, also plays an important role and is filmed with the specific sensitivity of Scandinavian film-makers. Even if not all the elements of the story are equally interesting and important, and even if not all the characters have consistency and clear outlines, I remained after watching 'The New Land' with the impression of a human and historical document, of a solid and sensitive cinematographic work.

Dour and lugubrious

[marcleif · 3/10 · 19 February 2017]

Watched all 4 hours of it, but it was painful. Amazingly slow, long winded, repetitive and lugubrious saga of dour Lutherans working themselves to death. Hard to believe it was a sequel. Also extended passages of some of the most irritating music score in cinema --- prolonged, unaccompanied drums. Just endless drums for what seems like a 40 minute sequence.

A Great, Epic Drama, not to be missed

[mackjay2 · 9/10 · 15 August 2017]

The second half of Jan Tröll's huge epic film goes beyond the expectations of even those who recognize the greatness of the first part (THE EMIGRANTS). This is a film that attempts to show most of an entire life, and it succeeds. While specific in the period, setting and character backgrounds, it's ultimately a universal experience. We see the great struggle of human existence played out against hardship, joy, horror and tragedy. All of it told through acting, directing and a poetic visual style that drive home the themes, and haunt the memory long afterward. The cast is headed by two of Ingmar Bergman's best-known and lauded stars (Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow, as Kristina and Karl Oscar) along with an astonishing young actor, Eddie Axberg, as Robert.

Great moments come and go, sometimes lingering on the screen, sometimes gone in a flash. Tröll spares the viewer nothing as far as life's harsh realities go. He takes chances too. Midway through THE NEW LAND, we are shown a lengthy flashback of Robert's harrowing ordeal when he and a friend leave Minnesota to find gold in California. Things go terribly wrong, and the sequence can resemble the writing of Cormac McCarthy in its grim poetry--told mostly without dialog and a percussion-only score. Not many directors would have risked it, but he sequence adds immeasurably to Robert's tragic character. In the end, this is Karl Oscar's story, with Max von Sydow in what could be his greatest role. All the wonder and sadness of life is in his performance, and up there on the screen. This is a great film by any standard.

Great but tough to watch

[rpabstnm20 · 8/10 · 12 April 2020]

Great but tough to watch - slow, slow and strange music

Difficult but compelling

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 8/10 · 8 March 2023]

Part 2 of The Emigrants/ The New Land duology (I'm not sure what to collectively call them?) is just as well-made and as emotionally harrowing as the first, but in a different way. The Emigrants naturally dealt with the main characters making a difficult journey from Sweden to the U. S. in the 19th century, with The New Land seeing them settled down and trying to make the most of life in... well, a new land. Naturally, things aren't as great as they hoped it all would be, and the various challenges the characters are put through end up making this a challenging watch for the audience.

It's not challenging because it's boring or slow, though - more so that it's heavy-going and quite brutal in places. It's also over three hours long, which I know probably already makes it a no-go film for a good many people. It's actually very easy to appreciate all the stuff this does well, because the acting's great, it's visually excellent, and there are some really inspired editing choices in this as well (so it's not surprising to see in the credits that the director and editor are one and the same: Jan Troell).

These two films end up being about six and a half hours long, and together tell a difficult but engaging story about Swedish/American history, and the plight of an emigrant family plus all the challenges that come with both travel and settling. Not the easiest two-part film in the world to recommend, but it makes for a compelling epic that should deliver for those who find the idea of watching such a film intriguing.

The New Land

[jcolyer1229 · 9/10 · 18 December 2005]

The New Land is a sequel to the 1971 Swedish film, The Emigrants. Karl Oskar and Kristina begin their new life in Minnesota. It is not easy in America. The immigrants clear the land and build cabins. We see in Kristina's face that she misses Sweden. Kristina and the prostitute, Ulrika, are friends now. Ulrika models her new hat. Robert and Arvid set off to dig for gold in California. Liv Ullmann as Kristina is beautiful, her long golden hair down on her shoulders. More Swedes arrive in Minnesota. Karl Oskar plows his fields. Robert returns a broken man. The Civil War is fought. Indians threaten. Kristina finally pines away in the new land. Karl Oskar lives out his life. The sense of mission in the first film gives way to the drama of everyday life.

Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell's categorical pièces-de-résistance

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 8 April 2018]

Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell's categorical pièces-de-résistance, a diptych, 7-hours long saga based on his fellow countryman, the literature titan Vilhelm Moberg's THE EMIGRANTS ensemble.

Divided into THE EMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND, this 19th-century epic holds a dear look at the travails of an ordinary Swedish household, the Nilsson family, resides in the Småland hinterland, when (mostly natural) adversity mounts against their livelihood, the eldest son Karl Oskar (von Sydow) mulls over the prospect of emigrating to the United States. A proposition deprecated by his wife Kristina (Ullmann) initially, but when poverty and hunger is aggravated by the premature death of one of their brood, she eventually accedes, joining their emigrating pack are Karl Oskar's younger brother Robert (Axberg), his farmhand friend Arvid (Lindstedt), the family of Kristina's uncle Pastor Daniel Andreasson (Edwall, a straight-up hard-hitter, brilliantly bringing about an air of smug virtuosity that treacherously verges on hubris), who is at loggerheads with the supercilious local parish clergy for preaching to the fallen ones (viz. those who are deemed not worthy of Christian gospel), among whom a former prostitute Ulrika (jazz chanteuse Monica Zetterlund), now a reborn woman, also partakes in the trek with her teenage daughter Elin (played by Monica's own daughter Eva-Lena Zetterlund).

THE EMIGRANTS itself can be bisected into two halves, before and after the family's embarkment for the state of Freedom, during the former, Troell introduces the hardship and inequity (religious parochialism and mistreatment) with a pastoral equanimity (occasionally lard with invigorating drumbeats) and purveys his main characters with sufficient impetus for their longing for a reset button in an idealized country where everyone is (purportedly) being treated equally and fairly, especially for the young Robert, it is the California gold rush beckons him, and supports him against the cavalier abuse he receives on a daily base when working as a farmhand.

Once their journey kick-starts, a looming nostalgia begins to sweep the cohort, Troell (who is also presiding over the cinematography department) fixes the valediction shot with a subdued solemnity, no goodbyes, tear-infused eyes, lingering looks are deployed, just a long-shot of the elderly parents seeing their children off in front of their house, incorporating the place into their final adieu, and the impact is ineffable.

Tellingly, THE EMIGRANTS' most accomplished passage is the ten-weeks trans-Atlantic voyage on a wooden brig, and Troell valiantly re-enacts its sordid state of affairs with swingeing maritime verisimilitude when most passengers are fallen victims of sea-sick, life is snuffed within a two-by-four space, by scurvy or even quinsy (a pertinent reference to today's illegal immigrants' ordeal on the sea). Here Liv Ullmann holds court in two magnificent scenes, one is Kristina's altercation with Ulrika, both actress are emotively unsparing, and letting out their prejudice and retorts once for all, which also presciently serves as a catalyst for their eventually best-friends transition; the other is when Kristina, apparently in extremis, exchanges with Karl Oskar their fondness, as if for the last time, by confessing that they are each other's best friends, a superlative affirmation that true love does exist thanks to the two players' most poignant delivery.

Once the survivors touches the terra firma but incognita, they are still miles away from where they will start life anew, hopping on the train and later a steamer, than on foot, when they finally reach their destination in Minnesota, their first dream is dashed by a boastful liar who never expect his lie will be debunked in his face, and THE EMIGRANTS finishes when Karl Oskar finds their new land under their new identities, American homesteaders.

Right picking up where its predecessor leaves, THE NEW LAND takes place entirely in the new land, where the Swedish emigrants forming a somewhat enclave, mostly living among themselves, which brings about a problematic issue about the story's sense of locality and Troell's inaction of alleviate this anonymity, if it is not for the random appearances of the indigenous Indians, one can safely surmise that the household is still live in their homeland, with very similar sylvan exuberance and harsh winter-time, and not much foreignness to interact with, in a way, it takes the shine off one of the story's focal points: displacement.

Yet, what THE NEW LAND excels in, is that oater flashback of Robert, who manages to stay alive just long enough after a futile gold-digging attempt with Arvid, a sounding slap in the face to the wide-eyed daydreamers, the pair is saddled with the same drudgery and hardship (not to mention Robert's potluck is rooked by deception) that ultimate will cost them both their young lives, here Troell launches a more hallucinogenic experiment in accentuating the pair's delirium and exhaustion when wandering in the desert, to admirable effect. Eddie Axberg has weathered convincingly in honing up Robert's tale of woe, and his final resignation with fate effectually brings a lump in one's throat.

Life goes on, as Karl Oskar's household finally prospers, a God-fearing Kristina turns out to be benighted enough to risk her own life for the sake of procreation, indoctrinated as a wife's sacrosanct duty, even after receiving the doctor's warning that another pregnancy would become her undoing, together with a less disinterested depiction of a wanton slaughter during the Sioux Uprising, by suggestion that it is at the expense of those white homesteaders' hospitality upon which the Indians conducts their retaliation, THE NEW LAND's luster starts to ebb away, notwithstanding a show-stopping Max von Sydow consistently radiates with plebeian bonhomie, sympathy and mettle from stem to stern of the entire roman-fleuve.